Dark Magic
by Spiralwish
Summary: After defeating Tirek, Twilight Sparkle feels lost- like something is empty in her. She soon discovers a book. A book she didn't know she had about Dark Magic, and can't help but read it- what can a bit of reading harm? Meanwhile Fluttershy is trying to get Discord settled again, after his treacherous act of betrayal, while suffering losing one of her best friends.
1. The Book

Chapter One

~Twilight Sparkle~

Twilight Sparkle's eyes shot open. Panting steadily, she murmured quickly to herself.

_No need to worry Twilight._  
_Peace has finally returned._  
_Tirek is gone, and Discord can be trusted._

Twilight sighed, gradually calming down.

_It was just a nightmare._

Twilight quickly made a joke out of the bad dream.

_Is it only girls who get night_mares_? Do boys get nightcolts? _She sighed deeply and closed her eyes again. The nightmare wasn't even that bad…

Fluttershy was the first to find out about Twilight's unusual behaviour. The timid Pegasus kept quiet at first, until finally, when the other four main six were gone, she confronted her Alicorn friend.

"What's th…the problem Twilight? I… I've noticed you've been acting a bit… off lately." Fluttershy stuttered.

Twilight turned around in surprise. How did Fluttershy know? For a second she felt like interrogating her friend like Pinkie Pie would, but then held back. Maybe it would be ok to share her thoughts with a fellow pony for once.

"I don't know… It's just like… Oh… I…" Twilight began.

Fluttershy waited patiently which annoyed Twilight. How could the shy Pegasus deal with others when they were in moods like this? Twilight sighed, and decided to let out the full truth.

"You know how Tirek took away all my magic? And when we stopped him, all of the magic was restored? Well… I still feel like there's something missing- like he kept part of me," the lavender Alicorn confessed.

"Your magic wasn't what could defeat that monster. It was our friendship, and friendship is no match for any other magic. Aren't you happy that Tirek was able to take your magic, but his strength was no match for the bonds of friendship?" Fluttershy questioned nervously.

"I know. That's what makes me upset. How can I feel like I have a hole left in my heart, when friendship is all I really need?"

The light yellow Pegasus gulped, before she faltered her next sentence. "Well… Your… your element of harmony… Well… It isn't really to do with… uh… friendship…"

Twilight's ears perked up at this point and she narrowed her eyes, making Fluttershy cower a bit. Then the Alicorn's eyes softened.

"You're right Fluttershy. I wouldn't be who I am now, without my magic, and I definitely wouldn't be who I am without your friendship. Thanks for the help."

The Pegasus nodded contentedly and swiftly scampered away, leaving Twilight sitting there, her head clustered with thoughts.

The princess was walking from side to side, mumbling her ideas, considering them, and turning away. Spike quickly scribbled down every idea Twilight thought of, the scroll slowly, but surely, becoming longer and longer.

"Can you slow down a bit?" The baby dragon huffed. Twilight turned, and gave him eyes of murder, before continuing on with ideas. She wasn't sure what problem she was trying to solve. She wasn't even sure if there _was _a problem. Maybe her ideas she was considering was possible problems. Problems why she felt a bit down.

"Maybe it is the lack of drama in the past month..? No, there was another parasite invasion last week, and it was fun chasing them down with Pinkie..?"

Spike was getting restless.

"Maybe I haven't been using my magic much lately?" Twilight aimed her horn towards Spike. The baby dragon barely had time to look up before she turned him into a dog.

"Oh! Ha, ha, you look like your dog form from when we were in that other universe with those strange creatures!" the Alicorn chuckled. The puppy blew his floppy ear off his nose tediously before she quickly turned him back into a dragon.

"But no, the lack of magic can't be what's wrong." She sadly lay down on her throne, staring out her window, towards her hometown, seeing the usual activity of ponies roaming around, most chatting about their daily lives, or shopping.

"Isn't it obvious what's wrong?" Spike mumbled rushing over to her side. Twilight's ears perked up, and she pounced on Spike, pinning him to the ground.

"What is it? Tell me! Tell me! TELL ME!" She screeched.

"Get off! Give me some space!" Spike spat. An impatient Twilight bounced ecstatically off her dragon friend, who _slowly_ stood up and _slowly,_ brushed the _slowly_ gathering dust off his shoulders.

"WHAT IS IT?!" Twilight squawked.

Spike fell over again, at the force in her voice, and gave her a glare before he got up and finally told Twilight what she wanted to hear.

"You're homesick," he simply 'said'. He 'said' it. Sorry I just can't add any fancy word to say the way he 'said' it. He just plain 'said' it.

The three syllables went through one of Twilight's ear and out the other. "Sorry, I-I didn't-didn't get that."

"You're homesick."

"I'm what?"

"Homesick."

"Sorry, I really don't understand what you're trying to tell me."

"YOU'RE HOMESICK!" Spike screamed. The scream was so loud, some ponies from outside turned their heads towards the castle. At the same time as her said that, there was another voice screaming in the distance.

Twilight stared at the ground, and remembered the treacherous events which had occurred when Tirek had attacked Equestria.

_Tirek and Twilight had been in a great battle. He was giving her blow after blow, as she continuously teleported to different areas before his magic hit her. At some point, she teleported to her home, which was a library inside a massive hollow tree. She was on the balcony and she peaked through a telescope to see Tirek on a grassed meadow, not far away from her home. He infuriatedly fired a massive ball of magic towards her. She desperately teleported away, managing to save her pet Owlicious in the process but losing her home. Her home which had meant so much to her, which she had spent the best years of her life living in. The years where she had been friends with Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie. _

"Even though, after I beat Tirek, with my friends by my side, my home, with all my memories, and books inside, had been destroyed. Yes, I now live in a castle, but I personally prefer my old home." Twilight sighed. "You're right Spike."

She turned around, and to her surprise, she saw princess Celestia, Lunar and Cadance standing next to her dragon.

"We understand how hard it would be for you," Lunar frowned, trotting up and giving the lavender princess a courteous dip of the head.

"Yes. Lunar and I have lived in our palace at Canterlot all our lives, and if it was blown and we were forced to move to a new home, it would be utterly unbearable," Celestia admitted, joining her younger sister a step ahead.

"You're a princess now," smiled Cadance, giving Twilight a friendly, gentle push on the shoulder. "You already look the part," Cadance winked, making Twilight lower her head in embarrassment as her childhood friend continued. "You act the part- very humble, I must say. And what's a princess without her castle?"

"Who?" Owlicious boomed, sitting on the perch further back in the room, making the four princesses turn and smile.

"What about my books?" Twilight asked. Yes, she had a library here, in her new castle home, but there were an awful lot of empty shelves.

"These showed up," Celestia beamed. Spike, and the three princess Alicorns before Twilight, stepped aside to reveal a royal guard, towing a massive cart with all the books Twilight had lost in the tragedy.

"But… how?" Twilight asked in amazement, picking up one book, she remembered had a slight tear on one of the pages, and the tear was still there.

"After Tirek lost all his magic, every pony got their magic back, right?" Lunar asked.

Twilight nodded, "right."

"After he was sent back to where he belongs, not only was the magic he caused, restored, but so was the damage he inflicted."

"All the damage?" Twilight raised an eyebrow. Just earlier she had seen a few tipped over carts with apples sprayed everywhere on a path.

"Well no- not the damage Discord created," Celestia muttered.

"But we have him cleaning up everything he did for a punishment," Cadance smirked.

"But that doesn't matter. All that matters is you are reunited with all your belongings again, and we hope it helps with your homesickness, Princess Twilight," Celestia smiled.

After the three princesses left, Twilight spent the last few hours of the day, restacking all her books on the bookshelves. There was one extra book though. She hadn't seen it before, and she knew every book she had.

"How did that get here?" The book was thickly coated with dust; the words for the title were barely decipherable. Twilight slowly read it, letter by letter _'The Alicorns Book on The Proceeding Study of Dark Magic.'_ Twilight coughed, as if she had swallowed a hairball. She continued to splutter, and could feel her centre of gravity dizzying. Eventually she was able to regain posture.

"Evil! The book is evil," she whimpered, peaking at the first page of the book, which explained who the book was by, the publisher, and the date the story was published. Twilight couldn't find out who wrote the book, for ink had slowly dissolved, after years of not been properly tended for. She could only see two letters from the author and they were a 's' and an 'i' There seemed to be no publisher of the book. The book probably wasn't published. It was probably just had written. Twilight finally turned to the date of the book, and her violet eyes widened, awestruck. The date simply said _0/0/0._

"B-but how? _0/0/0_ isn't even a time…? Or was it written before ponies even started to record time?"

"Twilight are you alright there? What are you doing up? It's around 1:00am now!" Spike walked down the hall yawning, with a candle in his claw. Twilight instantly snapped her book shut before Spike got near enough to see it at all.

"What are you reading?" He yawned again. Twilight bit her lip.

"I was just admiring how the princesses managed to bring the books back- and _so well preserved."_ Twilight looked down. Spike was too tired to care the slightest as he slowly walked away.

"Go to sleep Twilight," he muttered. Twilight waited until his tail had completely disappeared behind a wall before she turned back to the book. _How did this book get here? How was it written at 0/0/0? Why am I lying to Spike?_ Twilight yawned, realizing she was tired too. She slowly levitated the book using her magic and put it in a saddlebag. Zipping it shut, and doing a spell so the bag could only be opened be her, Twilight finally got up and stumbled to her room. Despite seeing the book, she no longer felt as homesick, and she knew that she was going to get a good sleep tonight.

~Fluttershy~

"Oh, I hope Twilight doesn't mind me noticing that she didn't seem too well…" Fluttershy stammered in fear.

"Uh huh," Discord agreed, barely listening, as he used his magic to clean up some tipped over trashcans.

"I wonder why she's so upset, I mean- she should be happy that we defeated Tirek and y-" she quickly shut her mouth before she mentioned how Discord had been part of the plot. The draconequus had already caught what she was going to say though, and sighed.

"It's ok Fluttershy. If only I'd known that the traitor was going to blow _me _off. Then I would have destroyed him instead and taken Equestria for myself, with a bunch of weak, powerless ponies!" Discord muttered.

"Discord…" Fluttershy narrowed her eyes sternly.

"You could have ruled too?" the draconequus offered. The Pegasus still kept her glare.

"And your friends?"

"No Discord. No one should take over Equestria and lead it in tyranny. You decided that power was more important than friendship, _just _when you gained our trust, and now look where that's gotten you," she gave a teasing grin, "cleaning up your own mess."

He summoned a pink cloud above Fluttershy and it started raining chocolate milk to get back at her.

"Hey!" she wailed trying to stop the brown milk from touching her pastel fur. Smirking, Discord ignored her pleas and continued cleaning up Ponyville with a satisfied snort.

~Rainbow Dash~

"And then, after Tirek was finally defeated- _by me, _a castle was summoned where the Princess Twilight Sparkle lives. And there was a throne- _for me_!" Rainbow Dash completed her story to the members of a fan club for her. Rainbow Dash smirked as the foals stared at her in awe.

"Anyway kids- I gotta' fly. I hear Fluttershy screaming and I think Discord is tormenting her again." The blue Pegasus with the crazy rainbow mane left, leaving the kids from the fan club chanting her name, as she flew off at incredible speed out of the cubby house.

Just as Rainbow Dash suspected, Discord had summoned a pink fairy floss cloud above Fluttershy's head and it was raining chocolate milk. The blue Pegasus mare gave an arrogant grunt and kicked the cloud with her back hoof, making it dissolve into vapour.

"Thanks Rainbow Dash. You're so kind. Unlike some certain draconequus'," Fluttershy sweetly said, before giving a sly grin, peering at Discord picking up rubbish from the corner of her eye.

"Oh! So now I'm awesome, cool, epic, fast, quick, swift… just a lot of words for fast, loyal a _lot more cool things and_ kind? Wow! So much I can't keep up!" Rainbow Dash smugly smiled.

"Rainbow Dash!" Rainbow Dash's ears pricked at the sound of her name.

"Oh! Another fan! Sorry kid, I ain't signing autographs right now. Try again tomorrow?" The mail-pony rolled his eyes and handed a postcard for Rainbow Dash.

"For you," he muttered before flying off. Rainbow Dash tore the envelope apart, before reading the note.

"What is it?" Fluttershy asked her best friend curiously. Rainbow Dash eventually looked up at Fluttershy, not saying anything. No emotion on her face.

"What is it?" Fluttershy asked again, less excited now, her ears slightly drooped.

Then Rainbow Dash screamed so loudly nearly every pony in Ponyville could hear her, at the same time as some voice in the distance screamed "YOU'RE HOMESICK!" Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash peered around confusedly, before turning attention back to the card, and Rainbow Dash screamed again, this time, running up to Fluttershy, giving her the biggest hug ever.

"Oh! A hug!" a passing Pinkie Pie shrilled and bounced up to Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy joining in with the group hug.

"Omigoshomigoshomigoshomigosh!" Rainbow Dash cried, squeezing her friends tighter. "Guess what? GUESS WHAT?" Rainbow Dash screamed. "I got into The Wonderbolts!"

"Yay! This CALLS FOR A PARTY!" Pinkie Pie cheered.

"I couldn't be any happier for you!" Fluttershy beamed up at her friend.

"Another party! Another party!" Pinkie Pie sang, hopping off into the distance.

Rainbow Dash's smile faded.

Fluttershy tilted her head. "What is it?"

"This means I'm going to have to leave Ponyville for a while."

"What?" Fluttershy asked in horror.

"Being a Wonderbolt takes an amazing amount of commitment. First I have to train with them, learn routines, all that, then I have to go on tour and perform in front of crowds, I have to keep myself healthy daily, which means going on a diet, I'll have to compete in races plus, go to important occasions where the Wonderbolts are celebrity guests, then I need to worry about the costumes, my safety…" Rainbow Dash went on and on. She noticed that Fluttershy's eyes were now lined with tears, as they slowly but surely leaked from her eyes. Rainbow Dash realised how much her friendship meant to the yellow Pegasus, and she already knew that she was going to miss her friends more than ever too. Before Rainbow Dash was even finished with the list of things she needed to do, her friend threw her arms around Rainbow Dash for another hug. This one wasn't out of bliss though. It was out of intense grief.

~Pinkie Pie~

"So bored, so bored, so bored!" Pinkie Pie kept chanting. She was so bored she had already cooked seven lots of cupcakes. Seven lots she was now going to eat! Yes! That would tie away the boredom! Pinkie opened her mouth and gobbled down all seven lots of cupcakes. As soon as she was done she was purely bored again.

"You know what this means Gummy?" Pinkie Pie asked her toothless alligator. The alligator started to open its mouth but Pinkie Pie answered before it had the chance to make a sound. "A party! Oh- but what will be the theme? An _'I'm So Bored I'm Going to Throw a Party,'_ party? No- no! That sounds _boring_! Oh, but right now this is boring. Aww life's so _hard_!" Pinkie Pie pulled at her hair in frustration. Suddenly she heard a scream. "Oh! Someone's dying!" Pinkie Pie excitedly ran out the house in incredible speed and was where the scream had come from in an instant. She saw Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy hugging. "Oh! A hug!" Pinkie Pie eagerly joined in.

"Omigoshomigoshomigoshomigosh!" Rainbow Dash cried, squeezing her friends tighter. "Guess what? GUESS WHAT?" Rainbow Dash screamed. "I got into The Wonderbolts!"

"Yay! This CALLS FOR A PARTY!" Pinkie Pie cheered. _Finally! Finally! Finally a party! Finally! _Pinkie Pie hopped away joyfully, singing, "Another party! Another Party!" She had been bored for quite some time now, and finally, _finally _she had a reason to throw a party. _Ok I need to get a banner, confetti, fireworks…_

~Rarity~

She watched disgustedly as Applejack bucked apples from the trees. _How can she not mind being dirty? _Rarity admired the way Applejack was unafraid of absolutely nothing. _Oh, but come on. She has to be afraid of _something_? _Rarity was deep in thought, when she remembered why she was here. She had to watch her sister, Sweetie Belle and her friends' crusade so they wouldn't do something dangerous. Last time the Cutie Mark Crusaders had been trusted alone, they had decided to do skydiving. They forgot about the parachutes, though, and were lucky that Rainbow Dash had been there to save them. Now they could go nowhere without supervision.

Rarity's attention went back to her friend Applejack. _Oh I hate getting my hooves dirty, but she loves it. Wait… _Rarity's eyes twinkled as a thought exploded into her mind.

"Hey Applejack, after you're done with your-" Rarity shuddered "_work, _would you like to come to my place?"

The orange mare looked up, rather startled, but then a forced grin appeared on her face.

"Sorry Sugar-cube. I sort of have somethin'… coming up, and I… uh… It's very important, eh…?" Applejack gritted her teeth.

"Oh Applejack, what a terrible liar you are, have I said that before?" Rarity's happy peaceful expression changed to a dark, rather evil smirk. "You're coming with me whether you like it or not," Rarity's smile returned. "Tut ta, darling. See you soon!"

~Applejack~

_Oh no… Rarity wants me to go to her shop of a house. Oh no… Quickly! Make an excuse! _Applejack forced a smile, trying too hard to make it believable.

"Sorry Sugar-cube. I sort of have somethin'… coming up, and I… uh… It's very important, eh…?" Applejack gritted her teeth. She hoped the Unicorn would be gullible enough to believe her, but her hopes were too high as Rarity shrugged her excuse off.

"Oh Applejack, what a terrible liar you are, have I said that before?" Rarity's happy peaceful expression changed to a dark, rather evil smirk. "You're coming with me whether you like it or not," Rarity's smile returned. "Tut ta, darling. See you soon!"

As the white Unicorn trotted away, Applejack stared at the ground in dismay.

"What's wrong, sis?" Applebloom trotted up.

"Rarity wants me to come over… oh… what if she makes me put makeup on or somethin'?" Applejack's eyes widened as she thought of all the horrible possibilities.

"Oh! Can I come too! Sweetie Belle and I can make some slight adjustments to the Cutie Mark Crusader capes! I was thinking we could improve the sewing and add lining to the sides of the fabric…" Applebloom went through all the possible fashion ideas which meant nothing to Applejack but seemed like the world to her younger sister._ How did my little sister become a diva?_


	2. The Invitation

Chapter Two

~Discord~

He gritted his teeth in annoyance, as he snapped his fingers at the final piece of rubbish which he rearranged to be tidy again. _What am I doing? This isn't chaos! _How he longed to spawn a banana peel or something to trip over some passing ponies. Then he remembered _why _he was doing it. How could that little Pegasi manage to control him? He had all the magic imaginable and she wasn't even a Unicorn! He sighed. If her friendship was the cost for causing chaos, he wasn't willing to hustle anypony. Besides, he could still pull a few _harmless _pranks.

Fluttershy was sitting nearby, under a tree, making sure he didn't do anything wrong. How innocent she was. That's what he hated. She had never done anything wrong… she was too _perfect_. But her friendship did mean a lot to him. She was the first friend he ever had, and he couldn't imagine life without her now.

"Can I be done now? It's late!" Discord glared down at the little yellow pony.

Fluttershy narrowed her eyes, thinking it through, before she sighed and nodded. "I think you've done enough good deeds- _for today _that is. Now go, go home."

Discord grinned and almost instantly teleported away.

~Fluttershy~

Rainbow Dash had gone home, and now so had Discord, so she was now all alone.

As soon as he left, her ears pricked to hear some ponies behind her scoffing about the draconequus. Fluttershy waited a few moments, before deciding what to do.

"That's not very nice," she turned to the two fillies behind her. She instantly recognised Diamond Tiara and Silverspoon.

Diamond Tiara laughed cruelly. "And what would a wimp like _you _know about that monster?"

Fluttershy cringed a bit. Not at the part the filly called her a wimp, but the part she called Discord a monster. Fluttershy thought through her mind. She was tired about being pushed around. Ponies could mess with her, but _not _her friends.

"Discord is one of my best friends, and if it wasn't for him, Tirek would still be leading us under tyranny."

"If it wasn't for Discord, that would have never happened in the first place," Silverspoon snapped.

"Perhaps, perhaps not, but Tirek was always going to come. If Discord hadn't joined him, Discord would have never received that necklace, and without that necklace, Twilight would have never been able to unlock that chest of harmony which is how we defeated Tirek." Fluttershy stopped, realising she had already said enough, because Diamond Tiara and Silverspoon had went quiet.

"Well- well he's still ugly!" Diamond Tiara muttered, before strutting off, with her friend.

Fluttershy stood there in amazement as the two fillies left. What had become of her? Since when did she start arguments and since when did she _win _them?

And how angry she was that they were insulting _Discord. _She thought for a while, putting herself in several different situations which involved sacrifice for Discord, and she knew that at every condition, no matter how life threatening, she was willing to do whatever it took to defend the draconequus. But why? When Princess Celestia first gave the task to 'tame' Discord, it had been nothing but ersatz at first. She was unaware how close she was actually going to get to him, but now, he was like family.

Right now, Discord had a very poor reputation among the ponies. Lots of them remembered being rounded up or cornered by the draconequus, before having all their magic sucked out. Lot's kept spreading hate, saying he couldn't be trusted, etcetera, etcetera, but Fluttershy knew that Discord was in on the alliance, for real this time. If only the rest of Equestria could see it too.

Sighing, Fluttershy trotted down the path on the way back to her home.

~Applejack~

Rarity excitedly looked around all the dresses picking a beautiful golden one, and rushing up to Applejack.

"This is going to be the best girl's night _ever_!" Rarity squawked. Applejack winced. _What is Rarity going to do to me? _

"Hmm… this seems about your size! Now go put it on! I want to see what it looks like on you!" Rarity jumped up and down excitedly. Applejack quickly tried to make an excuse before the fabric touched her.

"Oh Rarity, this is, uh, nice n' all, but, uh, I am sort of busy, n' I really needa' sorta' go…" Applejack began.

"Come on Applejack! There's nothing wrong with making yourself look pretty!" Rarity smiled.

"And ta da!" Applebloom shrilled. Both Rarity and Applejack turned around to see Applebloom's improvements to Sweetie Bell's Cutie Mark Crusaders capes.

"Oh my! Applebloom! These are amazing! When did you get so well with fashion?" Rarity asked in awe, trotting up to Applejack's younger sister. Applejack took this as a distraction and galloped to the side of the room, as far from Rarity as possible. Unfortunately, the door was on the other side of the room, but a window was good enough for Applejack. The orange Earth Pony opened the window as far as it would go, and jumped through it. Rarity turned around just in time to see Applejack's tail disappear.

"Applejack! Where are you going? You do realise there is a long drop from the window? You're not a Pegasi!" Rarity rushed to the window to see Applejack spitting out leaves from a bush she had landed on. _Escape, escape, escape _was all Applejack thought as she made a run for it.

"Oh, no she doesn't!" Rarity yapped.

~Rainbow Dash~

She hoped she was the only one here. Her home was her only place of privacy. Thank Celestia it was, for Rainbow Dash didn't want anypony else to see her cry. Cry and cry. Rainbow Dash should be excited she got into the Wonderbolts, but she already missed her friends before she even left. Training was starting in 3 days. And she wouldn't see her friends much for the rest of her life after those 3 days- or at least not as much as she used to. Rainbow Dash looked up, rubbing her nose with her hoof and made a final decision. She'd have to spend every minute of these next three days with her friends, with the exception of sleeping. Rainbow Dash got up and cantered to the door opening it, and feeling the chill of a cold breeze spaz through her veins. Then she adjusted to the coolness and summersaulted out the door before it whooshed shut by the wind.

~Pinkie Pie~

"And a little bit of this here and a bit of that there…" Pinkie Pie was making the final adjustment to the decorations of Rainbow Dash's party.

"And… done!" Pinkie Pie flopped to the floor, and stared up at the sky, impressed on what she'd done. There were rainbow coloured streamers hanging from basically every place possible, and there was a massive cake which had six layers- one layer for every colour of Rainbow Dash's multi-coloured mane. Firework cannons were lined up on the path, and there was an amazing amount of balloons.

"This party is going to be AWESOME!" Pinkie Pie did a little dance, and then stood still, as her Pinkie-Senses detected something was going to fall from the sky. Pinkie Pie quickly hid under a table as she waited. In a matter of seconds, Rainbow Dash descended from the sky, and trotted up to Pinkie Pie.

"Hi Pinkie! I see you've gone really extreme with the party decorations!" Rainbow Dash hooted.

"I know right!" Pinkie crawled out from under the table and hopped up and down excitedly. Rainbow Dash's smile faded, as she explained to the pink Earth Pony, that she was going to be gone for a while. Pinkie's smile faded too, and her pink mane deflated, as if it had been dipped in water.

"No! We can't lose you Rainbow! No! No!" Pinkie wailed, running up to her friend. Rainbow Dash accepted Pinkie Pie's hug. A few seconds later, Applejack ran up.

"Hide me! Hide me!" the orange Earth Pony squeaked, before lunging under a table. Rarity soon appeared.

"Where is she? Where is she?"

Rarity and Applejack soon realized the solemness of their surroundings, and their mad expressions changed soft as they approached Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash to see what was going on.

Fluttershy even came. She was on her way home, when she spotted most of her friends in the area, and approached curiously.

"What in tarnation is goin' on ere'?" Applejack asked. "Pinkie? Dash?"

Pinkie rubbed her nose, not daring to look up again, as her friends surrounded Rainbow Dash in confusion.

Fluttershy picked up on what was going on, and she sadly walked up to Rainbow Dash. "Are you going to tell them?"

"Tell us what? Rainbow?" Rarity frowned.

Pinkie Pie sniffed again and walked to Rainbow Dash's side, with Fluttershy.

Rainbow Dash explained how she was going to the Wonderbolts again. Rarity and Applejack only stared in horror. Their friend was leaving them.

The five huddled up in a warm embrace sobbing softly, making the most of having Rainbow Dash there. If only there was Twilight Sparkle with them.

~The Next Morning~

~Twilight Sparkle~

She woke up in the morning, having slept in. Twilight hopped excitedly out of bed, and to the kitchen, gnawing at her toast, before approaching her saddlebag again. It was still sealed shut, but Twilight easily did a reverse spell to unlock the zip. The book was still there, and Twilight took it out keenly, and sat on a chair in the library, just staring at the cover of the book for a moment.

"I know I shouldn't be reading this book… the spells in it are probably despicable… but I am so curious to know what's inside! Should I inform Celestia? No… she'll take it away from me." Twilight knew what she was about to do was wrong, but she was too inquisitive.

As she opened the dusty old book, all her instincts told her to flee. This wasn't right. This really wasn't right. Twilight opened to the first page of the book. To her amazement, it provided some simple spells, but using it different way of magic. It was… sort of like a different technique of using the horn. To do it, you had to expose all the possible fury your mind possessed, and boil all of it up to the centre of the heart. Once your heart had devoured all the rage, it powered up to the horn. The force of the spell would be stronger with the more rage you let out. It was dangerous though. If your heart ate up too much of the rage, it could turn you into something… something you're not. The author of the book then explained some spells you couldn't conduct with any other form of magic. Spells, Twilight had never seen, and never wanted to. But she couldn't help feel impressed… and significant she had her hooves on such an incredible antique book. Twilight opened to the next page, however, it was blank. She was unaware, but a tiny scent from the pages wafted up into Twilight's nostrils. It worked its way to the lungs, and then surged through her body. The scent, so tiny, so undetectable, so… innocent. But it wasn't just any scent. It was the smell of the author of the book. Perhaps the author hid the only remains of his life in the book. Perhaps they were waiting for their next victim. Perhaps the victim was their next reader. As Twilight devoured more and more information, a low voice, deep inside her self-conscience she couldn't hear, gave a throaty laugh.

"_Six million years. Six million years I tell you, as those feeble ponies grew and grew. Those feeble, stupid ponies- why they learnt so slow. At least the reader is smart. She will be good. She will be perfect for the job, plus, she is already a princess. How interesting."_

"_You don't have me yet though! You will never overpower me!" _Another voice entered the conversation, which was Twilight's self-conscience itself.

"_I can already sense a dark aroma coming from her. It may not be obvious from the outside, but she does have bad in her. I'm going to help her realise that."_

…

Twilight read through more and more pages of the book, her mind nourishing the new and incredible information. It felt good. Soon, she would be the best pony with magic in Equestria. Then a thought struck her. _I'm not actually thinking of using any of this magic, am I? No… I can't… I shouldn't… should I? _Twilight shook her head, flabbergasted, and continued reading.

~Rarity~

Rainbow Dash's party was today, and Rarity was going around with Pinkie Pie, helping deliver invitations. Lots of ponies were coming, especially the Pegasi, which Rainbow Dash worked with. Different feelings for Rainbow Dash were going around.

Excited for her.

Happy for her.

Sad for her.

Envious for her.

Most were jealous.

Pinkie Pie wasn't sure to be happy or sad; she kept on having rapid mood swings which annoyed the life out of Rarity.

"Oh I am so happy for Rainbow Dash! …She is going to die! …I wonder if she gets free popcorn! …I am going to die! …Rainbow is so fast! …No! What if she forgets us? …Woo! This is so exciting!" Pinkie Pie turned from side to side. "Oh! Look! A snail!" Pinkie peered at the ground staring at a passing snail, clearly intrigued. The snail was slowly but surely crossing the path. Rarity rolled her eyes, trying to move passed, but Pinkie wouldn't let her, saying that the snail needed to get across first.

For what seemed like hours, the snail finally disappeared, allowing Pinkie Pie and Rarity to continue delivering the invitations.

Eventually they reached Twilight's palace, and they both enthusiastically knocked on the door, excited to see their friend again.

It took forever for the door to open, and when it did, it was only Spike. He looked up to see Rarity and he grinned.

"Hi… I suppose you two are here to see Twilight?"

Pinkie Pie gave a vigorous nod, and Spike allowed them to enter. They instantly headed for the library, which was Twilight's number one location. Sure enough, the purple Alicorn was in the corner of the room, with her nose in a dusty old book. Rarity gave a gasp of delight, rushing over and snatching the book off Twilight.

"Oh my! This book is so incredibly vintage! That's _so _in style right now!" Twilight looked up in alarm as Rarity began reading the title of the book.

"_The Alicorns Book on_ -gosh this writing is hard to read- _The Proceeding Study of_-" Rarity was cut off, as Twilight snatched the book back.

"My book." Twilight hugged the book close, making Rarity slant her head in confusion, before a smile returned back to her face.

"We came to give you invitations!" Pinkie Pie beamed excitedly, shoving an invitation into Twilight's hooves.

"What's the invitation for? What's the occasion?" Twilight asked.

"Oh- you don't know yet! Rainbow Dash got into the Wonderbolts and Pinkie's throwing a party for her!" Rarity nodded.

"Rainbow Dash got into the Wonderbolts? That's incredible! I know it's always been her dream to be with them, and I know that job will be perfect for her!" Twilight gasped in delight, hopping up and down.

Pinkie Pie stared at the ground. "But we won't be seeing her in ages after that." Twilight stopped jumping, and peered at her friends to work out what was going on.

"She said that being with the Wonderbolts was going to take a lot of commitment, and she'd barely have time to come back to Ponyville and see her friends," Rarity sniffed.

The glint that had worked its way to Twilight's eye disappeared, and a large frown appeared on her face. "B-but… Rainbow Dash is the element of _Loyalty_! She'd never leave us like that!"

"Twilight… you know that Rainbow has always wanted this-" Rarity began.

"But she can't! She can't! We need her here!" Twilight bawled.

"Now you're just being shellfish…! Or is it selfish?" Pinkie rubbed her knee. "Now you're being fish!"

"We're all very sad about Rainbow Dash leaving, but can you be the least bit happy about this?" Rarity pleaded.

"Not when one of my best friends is leaving! When did you hear this?" Twilight inquired.

"Yesterday…" Pinkie Pie began, but Twilight was too quick to let the pink pony finish her sentence.

"Oh, so one of my best friends is leaving Ponyville, and _everyone _else knew about it, and _not me_?" Twilight roared.

"Well you weren't there…" Pinkie Pie began.

"YOU KNOW WHAT? WHAT IS THE USE OF THIS FRIENDSHIP, IF YOUR FRIENDS CAN'T BE CONSIDERATE ENOUGH, AND KEEP A HUGE SECRET FROM ONE OF THEIR BEST FRIENDS?" Twilight screamed and bucked a chair behind her in fury. The chair went flying across the room.

Rarity and Pinkie Pie stepped back in terror, as the Alicorn menaced towards them.

"Get out of my house… _NOW_!" Twilight took another threatening step forward.

Rarity didn't need to be told twice and she turned tail towards the door, before turning around, waiting for Pinkie Pie to come too.

"Are you still coming to the party?" Pinkie Pie questioned inoffensively. Twilight's eyes softened and she gazed at the ground, realizing the fear her friends were showing. It was easy to smell- you could smell it from a mile away, and their fright was of her.

"I'm sorry for being so… harsh. I don't know what got into me. Of course I'm coming to the party." Twilight gave a sweet, pleading smile.

"You're apology has been accepted!" Pinkie Pie cheered ecstatically, bouncing away, out the door. Rarity stayed at the door, gazing at Twilight, before giving a small nod, to say the apology was accepted, before following Pinkie out the door.

_That was really unlike Twilight._

"Don't you think that was a little… peculiar behaviour of Twilight's?" Rarity questioned the happy pink mare, hopping besides her.

"I know right? Did you see her hair? It was so messy!" Pinkie squealed.

"No not the hair… yes it was certainly untidy- but I mean… all the yelling," Rarity glanced up at the sky. Pinkie Pie shrugged, and the two friends continued walking down the path.

~Twilight~

_What's gotten into me? How could I just yell at my friends like that? That was utterly horrific, abysmal, appalling behaviour!_ Twilight punished herself, pacing from one side of the room to the other, clenching down on a stick she had found outside.

"Wait? Why am I biting on the stick again?" Twilight turned to Spike, nearly dropping the stick from her mouth when she said that.

"It helps you express your anger," the purple and green dragon replied.

"On a stick? Why a stick? Couldn't it have been something more hygienic?" Twilight asked.

"But a stick is funnier," Spike sneered. Twilight spat the stick out. _Typical jokes._ Twilight snapped her attention back to what she was thinking of. _How could have I been so atrocious to her friends? Two of my best friends? Over something which _was_ important, but didn't need that much fuss over._ Twilight turned in fury to her book. _It must be the book! It must be! I'm giving that to Celestia right now!_

It totally made sense. The book _was _evil, and it had dark spells which would lead to pure chaos. If this book wasn't in the right hooves, who knew what could happen?

_It's probably teaching me to be more hateful. But as long as I don't try any of the spells I'll be fine._

How wrong she was. How so very wrong she was.

~Celestia~

She snickered as her younger sister moved a piece in Checkers.

"Checkmate!" Celestia scoffed as she used her piece to buck Luna's off the board.

"You cheated!" Luna protested.

"No, I'm just better at Checkers than you!" Celestia purred. Luna grunted, giving her sister a playful punch on the arm.

Celestia suddenly felt the air sort of vibrate. Lime green flame swivelled in the air before forming into a scroll.

"Message from Twilight?" Luna questioned. Celestia nodded slowly reading the paper.

_Dear Princess Celestia.  
You know those books you returned to me the other day?  
I am afraid to say, one I don't remember having has shown  
up, and I think it might be dangerous… Anyway, if you could  
please come and see this book, that would be very helpful.  
Your faithful student  
Twilight Sparkle_

Luna peered over Celestia's shoulder, snooping, and read the note.

"That can't be good," the night princess murmured.

"We should go right away. I don't like the sound of this book," Celestia mumbled, before teleporting Luna and herself to Twilight's palace.

"That was quick," Spike snorted, before walking away to leave Twilight alone with the other two Alicorn princesses.

"So what's this book you were mentioning in the scroll?" Celestia asked. Twilight picked up the book with a levitation spell and dropped it in front of Celestia and Luna. Their eyes widened as they read the title.

"WHERE DID YOU GET THIS?" Luna bellowed, realizing she was using the old fashioned way of talking, and quickly lowered her voice, "where did you get this?"

"It showed up with the other books."

"Did you read any of it?" Celestia asked urgently.

"No," Twilight replied quickly. Luna and Celestia both sighed in relief.

Celestia remembered this book- and her sister Luna remembered it even more. It had been one of the books King Sombra had read. One of the books in which spells' he had used while ruling the Crystal Empire under tyranny. You didn't even need to cast any spells. All you needed to do was so much as read it for it to get you. Once it got you, there was _no _going back.

"Well thank you Twilight Sparkle for informing us on this book immediately. All this book needs is to be in the wrong hooves and then it's over," Celestia nodded. Luna picked up the book with her magic and turned to Celestia, and the two of them teleported out of the room, back to Canterlot.

"Thank goodness we can trust Twilight," Lunar sighed. Celestia seemed a bit suspicious though.

"Yes, she is a good student. Can you take the book to our secret compartment? I don't want to ever see it again," Celestia grimaced. Luna nodded optimistically and trotted down the hall, still levitating the book.

When Celestia was sure her sister was gone, Celestia trotted up to one of her Royal Guards.

"I'd like you to hire some guards to keep an eye on Princess Twilight Sparkle," Celestia whispered as quietly as she could, "please report any suspicious behaviour… and keep quiet about it."


	3. The Party

~Chapter Three~

The Party

~Discord~

"No, you are not coming to Rainbow Dash's party and that's final!" snapped Fluttershy.

"Come on, Fluttershy! I won't cause any chaos! I promise!" Discord looked at Fluttershy with puppy dog eyes.

"Please don't make this hard Discord. You do know… well… you're not really Rainbow Dash's favourite pony. It is a solemn occasion and if you came… it would be a bit… worrying…" Fluttershy ducked her head under her hooves, hiding her eyes, as if Discord would disappear.

"I'm reformed, _remember? _Or is our friendship not good enough? Is there not equality between us?" Discord made a sad face, and turned around to sulk. Fluttershy looked up, her teal eyes glistening.

"It's not that-" she began, but Discord cut her off.

"Do you and your friends not like me?"

"Of course we do! It's just-"

"So you _do_ like me, but you don't want to invite me to a party, which might be the last time I _ever_ see Rainbow Dash?"

Personally, Discord didn't care the least if Rainbow Dash was going or not. All he cared about with this situation was one less pony to use the Elements of Harmony on him. Of course he wasn't going to say that to Fluttershy. He just wanted to win the argument.

"It wasn't me who gave out the invitations! It was Pinkie!" Fluttershy took a step back.

"I knew it! None of your friends like me, _do they_? And now I'm starting to think that you don't like me either." Discord drooped to the ground and lay there. It was not in his nature to be so low. He felt defenceless and vulnerable. For the first time, Fluttershy towered over him, and he didn't like it, but in the stakes of an argument, you had to do whatever it takes to win. He'd tried asking, ordering and now he was pleading. His _least_ favourite way. Fluttershy slowly tiptoed up and patted his head.

"It's not like that Discord. I'm sorry if I yelled."

"No one cares about me!"

"I care about you," Fluttershy retorted, "and that's why you can come to the party- just this once," Fluttershy sighed, giving in.

_I knew I could convince her! _Discord jumped to the air, all of a sudden, making Fluttershy jump back in surprise.

"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" He scooped Fluttershy up into a hug.

"Can't… breathe," Fluttershy choked, and he quickly put her back onto the ground awkwardly.

"There's rules though," she smirked.

"Aww. Does there have to be?"

"Do you want to go to the party?"

"Ok. What're the rules?" Discord muttered.

"You cannot cause any chaos which could physically harm anypony," Fluttershy began.

"But I can still cause chaos?" the draconequus asked in surprise.

"Yes, but not much, and the pranks have to be harmless," she nodded. "Rule number two, for every prank you pull, is a price you have to pay."

"Ok, how much do you want?" Discord asked, summoning twenty bits and dropping them on the Pegasi.

"Not bits, but a good deed. You'll have to help me feed the animals, _without _using any magic," Fluttershy raised her eyebrow to see his reaction, which was absolutely priceless.

"Oh what's the point of causing any chaos then?" He spoke in a defeated voice.

Fluttershy smiled, and explained the final rule, "and the third rule; _please_ use common sense. If everyone in the area is sad, _please _don't go around throwing confetti."

"Sure," Discord sighed. _I'm sure I can manage those rules… well maybe not the second one, but the two others I can._

"Ok, the party's starting in half an hour, so make sure you get ready," Fluttershy dipped her head courteously, and trotted away.

~Rainbow Dash~

There was a knock on the door, and Rainbow Dash jumped in discomfiture. She quickly ran to the mirror, snatching a tissue and rubbing her face roughly, to get rid of any tears which had formed. She quickly strolled to the door and opened it, to see no one there.

"Um… Hello?" Rainbow Dash peered around, and to her surprise, Pinkie jumped out of nowhere, only to fall back down.

"Pinkie? What are you doing?" Rainbow Dash peered over the side of the cloud, to see Pinkie Pie hopping up to her home by a trampoline. She took one massive bounce up again.

"Hi Rainbow Dash!" she cheered before falling down again.

"It's time to…" She continued on her next spring. "To come to… your party!"

"Shoot!" Rainbow Dash cursed, plummeting down from her home in the sky to the ground, where Pinkie sprung off the trampoline and approached Rainbow Dash.

"I thought I'd need to remind you!" Pinkie grinned.

"I'm not ready! I mean, look at me! I look like I've just woken up!" Rainbow Dash squealed.

"Now you sound like Rarity. Are you all right Rainbow?" Pinkie cocked her head, with that usual big, annoying smile on her face.

"You're right. What am I to care?" Rainbow Dash mumbled, before following Pinkie to the park where the party was being held.

Already, there were quite a lot of ponies there. _Wow. Lots of ponies have come to congratulate me and give me their farewells… _Rainbow Dash stammered in her mind.

"Oh! Rainbow Dash! You look like you've just woken up! Darling, please follow me!" Rarity ordered. Rainbow Dash didn't even bother to point out that she'd just said that, as she followed the diva pony to her boutique, not far from Rainbow Dash's party.

"I've spent quite some time working on this project, so I hope you like the outfit I prepared for your party," Rarity smiled, presenting a dress.

"Oh! Sparkly!" Pinkie awed, who had followed them to the boutique. Rainbow Dash examined the clothing. It was very astonishing. It looked like a wave washing over the ocean, which had reflected the sunlight, causing rays of rainbow over the crystal-like water. It had exactly the right texture to mirror the froth of a crashing down wave, and its colours would look extraordinary next to Rainbow Dash's cyan fur.

"Do you like it?" Rarity asked, blinking her eyelashes. Rainbow grinned to her friend.

"It looks great Rarity, and that's coming from _me_!" Rainbow Dash smiled, staring at the outfit. She quickly grabbed it and went into a change room, putting the dress on while her friends waited patiently outside. Finally, Rainbow Dash made her appearance.

"Wow Rainbow Dash! You look-"

"Awesome, I know," Rainbow Dash smirked, finishing Pinkie's sentence.

"Well, I was actually going to say 'cool', but close enough!" The pink, wild mare bounced up and down.

"Let me do your hair now," Rarity smiled, forcing Rainbow Dash to sit down with a groan. Fortunately, Rarity only gave her hair a few brushes before she was done.

"Ok, you can go party now!" Rarity smiled, watching the relieved Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie bound away, before she trotted after them.

_This is so cool! _Rainbow Dash thought, peering around all the guests.

"Hey Sugar-cube!" Applejack called over the music, trotting up to Rainbow Dash.

"Hey Applejack! Isn't this party going _great _so far?" Rainbow Dash questioned.

"I'd be lyin' if I disagreed! You should go say hey to Fluttershy, she seems a bit lost. Considering you two have known each other the longest, I think you'd be the best to talk to her," Applejack requested. Rainbow Dash nodded in agreement, searching the crowd for the shy Pegasi, before spotting her among the outside of the mob.

"Fluttershy! Hey!" Rainbow Dash trotted up to her friend.

"Rainbow Dash! How I am so grateful to see you, and my, you look beautiful in that dress!" Fluttershy beamed.

"Beautiful isn't one of my signature words," Rainbow Dash narrowed her eyes before smiling again. "Applejack told me you seemed a bit misplaced."

Fluttershy lowered her head, "I feel a bit guilty… and worried… Discord would not stop annoying me on how much he wanted to come to the party, and…"

"Eventually he got on your nerve, so you allowed him to come to this party under conditions, which are; he's not allowed to pull too much pranks, and for the ones he does, he has to feed your animals _without magic_, and he has to act in the mood to the rest of the crowd!" Pinkie Pie shrilled out of nowhere, trotting up to them.

"How did you know?" Fluttershy gaped.

"Just a hunch!" Pinkie beamed before bouncing away, singing to the music.

"How does she do it?" Rainbow Dash mumbled under her breathe before turning to Fluttershy.

"Oh, I hope you're not mad at me for inviting Discord!" Fluttershy spoke quietly.

"Mad? Na, I don't mind. As long as he doesn't cause too much trouble and freak the guests out," Rainbow Dash shrugged. Fluttershy let out a sigh of relief.

"You do not know how much it means to me for you to understand," Fluttershy smiled blissfully.

"I'm gonna go say hi to some of the other guests," Rainbow Dash gave a wave to Fluttershy, before wandering away. Lots of ponies stopped to greet Rainbow Dash and compliment how she'd got into the Wonderbolts. Rainbow Dash tried to act modest to most of the praises, only letting the fame get to her head if she was asked for autographs.

"Hey Rainbow Dash!" the CMC trotted up proudly, especially Scootaloo.

"Hey girls! How's your Crusading going?" Rainbow asked.

"Oh my Celestia! I can't believe we didn't tell you yet!" Scootaloo shrilled.

"We got our Cutie Marks!" they all squealed at the same time.

"Yeah! Me and Sweetie Belle got ours yesterday, and Scootaloo got hers early today!" Apple Bloom explained

"Ok, show me what you got fillies," Rainbow Dash patiently sat down as the three fillies excitedly showed off their Cutie Marks. Apple Bloom went first, showing the picture on her flank. It was three apples, like Applejack's, but they were different. One apple was just a plain red apple, one apple had big purple dots over it, and the last apple was completely painted with different colours.

"Interesting. Let me guess… your special talent is creative…" Rainbow Dash put her hoof to her chin to show a thinking effect. Apple Bloom nodded vigorously for Rainbow Dash to continue.

"You paint things, and decorate?" Rainbow Dash questioned.

"Yes! Rarity noticed how good I was with creating, and she offered a job for me to help out with some of her dress making. My talent can span to decorating just about anything! Especially painting! When I helped remodel our CMC clubhouse, this thing showed up!" Apple Bloom explained proudly.

"Good job!" Rainbow Dash grinned, hoof-bumping the cream filly with a reddish-pink mane.

Sweetie Belle was up next. The picture on her flank was a purple microphone with pink musical notes popping out.

"Oh! Yours is easy! You're a singer!" Rainbow Dash smiled.

"Yep! I've always enjoyed singing, and we were doing a play for school, which was a musical, and I had my own solo singing! When I sung, there was a huge applause at the end, and then I realized I must be quite good at singing and that's how I got my Cutie Mark!" Sweetie Belle jumped up and down, and again, Rainbow Dash hoof bumped the excited filly.

Scootaloo was finally up. Rainbow Dash didn't even need to look at the Cutie Mark, and covered her eyes.

"Let me guess Scoots! You're talent is riding your scooter, right?" Rainbow Dash uncovered her eyes, and sure enough, there was a big, red scooter on the filly's flank.

"Great guess Rainbow! I always knew I was good at riding on my scooter, but only today did I realize it could possibly be my special talent! I was just riding it through town, when some motorbike stunt-pony picked up on my talents, and complimented my skills! He took me to a dirt track and I was easily able to complete the obstacles, and that's when my Cutie Mark came up! And better yet, he offered me into some team where we get to compete in races! He said I'd be the youngest there, but already he can see great potential in my ability!" Scootaloo beamed.

"That's great Scootaloo! I'm gonna become a famous flier with the Wonderbolts, and you're gonna become a famous stunts-pony! I wouldn't be surprised if you really were my genetic sister!" Rainbow Dash purred, making the smile on Scootaloo's face grow even bigger.

"Well, I gotta fly CMC- or should I not call you that anymore? Well anyway, see ya girls, it was nice chatting!" Rainbow Dash smiled, and flew away, glad to have made Scootaloo happy.

Rainbow Dash continued flying around, greeting her guests, when she noticed a certain pony. She needed to give him a warning. For Fluttershy's sake.

"Hey Discord, nice disguise," Rainbow Dash called, trotting up to the draconequus disguised as a pony.

"Rainbow Dash! What a pleasant _(not) _surprise!" He grabbed Rainbow Dash's hoof and shook it so hard, Rainbow Dash's whole body was lifted off the ground.

"Good job on the opportunity! You'll make an _amazing _Wonderbolt," he stopped shaking her but continued on with the sentence, "and when you're gone, I promise to take care of dear Fluttershy for you," her smirked.

"About that," Rainbow Dash muttered, regaining her composure but stumbling a bit after he shook her, "If you hurt one hair on her head, you'll have to answer to me, and it won't be pretty," she glared at him ominously, meaning every word that she said.

"Oh Dashie, relax, don't worry about her, I promise I won't do _any _harm." A halo appeared above his head, and he patted her head hard, so he was almost hitting her scalp.

"Don't call me Dashie, and behave yourself. That was a warning," Rainbow Dash snarled, before trotting away from the draconequus disguised as a pony.

~Applejack~

She smiled as she swayed to the beat of the music.

"Best. Party. EVER!" Pinkie Pie bounced beside Applejack, beaming.

"Yeah! Everyone's here… I wander where Twilight is though," Applejack mumbled. Rarity trotted up, catching Applejack's sentence and nodded.

"You're right Applejack. It's very unlike Twilight to be late to a party… or basically _anything_. I wonder where she is?" Rarity tilted her head. Applejack thought for a moment.

"I'm gonna go to her castle and see what's taking her so long. Rarity, care join me?" Applejack questioned.

"Why can't I come?" Pinkie Pie asked in disappointment.

"Pinkie, darling, you're the one running the party, and all these guests need you. It would be best if you stayed here," Rarity nodded.

Pinkie Pie sighed. "You're right. Well, see ya girls!" Pinkie Pie ran off, her bliss returning.

Applejack and Rarity trotted off, towards Twilight's castle in silence.

Rarity was first to break the awkwardness. "Well… she has been acting a bit peculiar lately."

"What d'ya mean sugar-cube?" Applejack asked, turning to the unicorn.

"Well… yesterday she got very mad at Pinkie Pie and me because we hadn't told her sooner that Rainbow Dash was going to leave," Rarity mumbled.

"What d'ya mean by mad? Twilight never gets mad. She just gets irritated," Applejack asked in confusion.

"Well, she just yelled at us, and kicked a chair over. She calmed down after that but she still seemed a bit… edgy. Trust me, me and Pinkie were terrified out of our wits. We thought she was going to start physically harming us or something," Rarity admitted.

"That's odd. Well, we're here now. Hopefully she has gotten over that. Something must have been stressing her at the time," Applejack sighed.

In front of the two ponies, was Twilight's castle. Applejack was first to walk up to the door and give three, steady knocks. Twilight opened the door, eyes widening.

"Girls," She whispered, and grabbed Applejack and Rarity, pulling them inside the castle, which was pitch black inside.

"Twilight Sparkle! What is the meaning of this?" Rarity gulped.

Applejack peered around, unable to see anything, until Twilight lit a candle and the three of them stared around bewilderedly.

"What is going on Twilight?" Applejack asked shakily. _What _is _going on?_

"Ponies are spying on me," Twilight whispered, "so I am hiding from them."

"What? There are no ponies spyin' on ya Twi!" Applejack gave her an annoyed glance.

"Yes there are! They are outside," Twilight whispered.

"Where Twilight, dearie?" Rarity asked. Twilight got up and trudged to the window, and slowly crouched down, before moving the curtain so Rarity and Applejack could peer outside.

"They are there," Twilight whispered pointing to some trees outside.

"Twilight! What the hay has gotten into ya? They are _trees_! Normal, pathetic _trees_!" Applejack burst into laughter.

"That's what they want you to think… and then… they'll _strike_!" Twilight whispered in fear.

"Twilight, I have to admit, this is the most atypical think I have ever seen you do," Rarity yelped.

"Ya do realize yer' missin' out on Rainbow Dash's party?" Applejack questioned.

"Her party… Oh shoot! How could I forget?" Twilight mumbled.

"So are you coming Twilight?" Rarity asked.

"Oh no! I can't! Not with the spies!" Twilight's eyes flashed red for a second, before they went normal again.

"Twilight, this is stupid. Yer' comin' to the party whether ya like it or not," Applejack creaked in her southern accent. Rarity and Applejack grabbed both Twilight's front legs, and dragged her out the door.

"No! No! What are you doing to me! Put me down this instant! Let go!" Twilight flayed around, but Applejack and Rarity had a good grip on her.

It took forever, but they finally managed to drag her to the party.

~Pinkie Pie~

"It's time! Yay!" Pinkie Pie hopped onto the stage she had put up and stepped to the microphone, tapping it a few times to make sure it was on.

"Hello fillies and gentlecolts!" Pinkie Pie began, grinning, as she watched all the heads turn to her. She managed to catch Applejack and Rarity's eyes, as they held down a struggling Twilight Sparkle. _I wonder what's up with Twilight? Oh well! _Pinkie cleared her throat, waiting till the whole crowd was quiet, and the music had been turned off. You could hear a pin drop from a mile away.

"I am pleased to be here above you, presenting one of our favourite ponies' around party. I know most of you know why we are here, but for those who don't, as a reminder, a special pony here got into the Wonderbolts!" A loud cheer rocketed throughout the crowd, and many heads turned to the light blue mare with the rainbow mane. Pinkie's smile became broader.

"Give it up for Rainbow Dash ponies!" Pinkie cried, and an even louder applause sounded, as Rainbow Dash trotted up onto the stage next to Pinkie.

"Give them a speech," Pinkie whispered enthusiastically to her friend, who nodded. Pinkie Pie stepped aside to let Rainbow Dash speak.

"I am so happy to have all of you guys here to celebrate this amazing occasion! I cannot believe I am supported by so many ponies! It means so much! I would have never been able to get here though, without my five, best friends; Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Twilight Sparkle, Applejack and Rarity. I love you girls so much!" Rainbow Dash cheered, and all heads were turned to the five mares who smiled back except Twilight, who was glaring everywhere. Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow at Twilight's reaction but didn't say anything about it. "Anyway, I have been dreaming my whole life to get into the Wonderbolts, and finally I have had that dream come true. Thank you so much!" Rainbow Dash stepped back, and Pinkie Pie took her place back at the microphone. _Wow, Rainbow Dash is really good at public speaking! Well… I guess she is one of the bravest ponies I know…_

"This occasion isn't just a happy, cheery celebration though… it's also slightly depressing. Tomorrow is the last day we're going to see Rainbow Dash in a while," Pinkie Pie paused for emphasis, before continuing, "because being in the Wonderbolts, as Rainbow said, 'takes a lot of commitment.'" Some of the audience gasped, and some ponies called out things like, 'what?" or 'we'll miss you Rainbow!' Pinkie paused. "So I guess this it is then. Bye Rainbow Dash," Pinkie sighed. Rainbow Dash gave her a relieved nod, and mouthed _'thank you.' _

The music started again, not as happy, but a sad song. Some ponies were crying. Scootaloo, in particular. Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie hopped off the stage, and Pinkie Pie stepped aside as a mass of ponies ran up to Rainbow Dash crying and hugging her, giving her solemn fair wells and wishing her luck. _Ok, after this song will be the fireworks._

~Twilight Sparkle~

How terrified she was. Though, she was starting to calm down now, and actually enjoy herself. Maybe her friends were right. Maybe her idea of tree spies _was _ridiculous. Fluttershy trotted up to her.

"Are you alright Twilight?" she asked.

"I'm sure I'm fine… I think I'm just a bit tired I guess." Fluttershy didn't seem convinced.

"Tell me about what happened. Has anything happened in the past few days which have influenced this strangeness?" Fluttershy shifted from hoof to hoof.

"Well…" Twilight thought for a moment. "I found this book, I didn't know I had…" she went quiet. _Should I tell Fluttershy? _She decided she could, "do you Pinkie Promise not to tell any pony about what I am going to tell you?" Twilight questioned. Fluttershy nodded.

"Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye."

"Well… the book is unlike any other- it was on Dark Magic."

Fluttershy looked like she was going to faint. "D… Dark… Magic? Oh no Twilight! Did you read anything?"

Twilight gulped, "I read a bit…"

"Did you try any spells from it?" Fluttershy interrogated.

"No."

"Thank Celestia. Continue your story," Fluttershy nodded.

"Well… after I read a bit, I started acting a bit… differently… Oh for the love of Celestia, I started _yelling _at Pinkie and Rarity." Fluttershy's mouth was agape, but she didn't say anything, so Twilight continued on, "and then soon after I calmed down, and I decided that the best thing to do was to get rid of the book, so I contacted Celestia and Luna, and they both immediately came, and took the book away from me, and questioned me a bit… But one of the questions they asked has got me worried," Twilight gulped.

"What was it?" Fluttershy asked.

"They asked if I had read any of it. And I know lying is wrong, but it was all I could think of saying so I said 'no', and Celestia seemed relieved at that. It has me thinking… what if just _reading _the book can affect me?" Twilight shuffled worriedly, and Fluttershy looked flustered.

"I don't know what to say Twilight. I think you should tell the princesses that you read a bit of the book, for your safety…" Fluttershy began.

"No! I can't tell them! Then Celestia will think I'm a liar and punish me and-"

"Please Twilight!" Fluttershy begged.

"No I can't I just can't!" Twilight was on the edge of tears now.

"Then I'll tell them…" Fluttershy began.

"No! You Pinkie Promised you wouldn't tell anyone," Twilight cried.

Fluttershy sighed, "You're right. I'm sorry, but I really, highly recommend you tell them."

Twilight nodded and the yellow Pegasi trotted away, before turning around. "Besides, you haven't been acting too strangely lately." Fluttershy trotted away.

~Fluttershy~

Almost as soon as she had her back turned on Twilight, Discord teleported in front of her. She jumped in fright.

"Oh Discord, you scared me," She mumbled.

"Not as much as Twilight scared me! Does she know how dangerous Dark Magic is?"

Fluttershy's eyes widened, "Were you eavesdropping? How much did you hear?"

"All of it, and we have to inform Celestia on this immediately before it's too late!" He cried.

"I can't! Remember? I Pinkie Promised!" Fluttershy sighed, half glad Discord had overheard.

"Then I will," he growled, about to snap his fingers, when a load boom resonated through the sky. They looked up to see the large majestic fireworks overhead them. Fluttershy and Discord were awestruck for a moment, until there was a sudden scream. They turned around to see Twilight. Her eyes were now blood red as she crouched to the ground, her hooves on her ears. She was shivering like crazy, before another boom overhead appeared.

"Oh no," was all Fluttershy heard from Discord, as Twilight managed to get to her hooves, glaring at the crowd ahead of her.

"Run, Fluttershy," Discord whispered, pushing the Pegasi as far away from Twilight as he could, with full strength.


	4. The Fight

~Chapter Four~

~The Fight~

~Fluttershy~

Discord had pushed her… It wasn't an aggressive push, but it was more… _protective? _She turned around, to see him standing in front of her- yes! She was right! He was in a shielding stance right now. She had always thought that she would do whatever it took to protect him, but she had never thought that he would protect _her_.

Fluttershy's thoughts were cut short when a ray of Twilight's magic struck the ground, causing many ponies to tremble and fall over. Then she cast another spell, it felt like an invisible wall was closing down on the ponies. Lots were screaming, as they were all forced to the ground in front of her. Forced to bow. Discord was the only one to resist, who teleported above. Fluttershy peered up, in complete fear, and he quickly teleported her up with him, too.

Fluttershy turned to the draconequus to do some questioning, when he grabbed her, stuffing his paw in her mouth to keep her silent. _He doesn't want me to talk. _Mumbled Fluttershy in her mind.

Twilight hadn't noticed Discord and Fluttershy above her yet, as she stood before the bowing ponies.

"Six million years…. SIX MILLION YEARS! How _dare _you all act so _confused, _you irritating, foul _peasants_!" Twilight snarled, infuriatedly stomping forward darkly.

Fluttershy was shivering. She was shivering harder than normal. How? But then she realized Discord was shivering too. _Wow… even _Discord _is afraid…_

Twilight stepped forward, kicking one of the ponies, who shied back in horror.

"Twilight, darling, what has gotten into you?" Rarity was brave enough, and first to speak.

A smug grin enhanced Twilight's face as she trotted up to the white unicorn and stood before her.

"Yes, that is the question most of you would be wandering right now. What has gotten into Twilight? Well, let me explain, _peasants. _You're dear friend Twilight has read a book she shouldn't have. In fact, it was a book on _Dark Magic_. Hold your gasps _peasants. _What a traitor, yeah, yeah. Anyway, a dark spirit has gotten into her. Oh yes, in case you didn't know, _I am the dark spirit_!" Twilight grinned as some ponies began to shudder and begin to cry for help.

"Fluttershy," whispered Discord. She peered up to realize he was no longer stuffing his paw in her mouth.

"Yes?" she quietly asked.

"Go contact the princesses. I will try to hold this demon back for as long as possible," Discord replied. Fluttershy nodded loyally, before spreading her wings out and flapping away. She couldn't help but peer around, to see Discord confronting Twilight. _Oh, I hope he'll be alright._

Fluttershy had been flying to Twilight's palace. It was not _too _far from the party, and despite her slow flying, she was quick to get to the castle. She stood before the door, and right before she was about to touch it, a low, deep voice behind her said:  
"halt."

She squealed and peered around, pressing her back against the door, afraid of whatever was confronting her.

A royal guard stood before her, with a stern expression on his face.

"Why are you trespassing into Princess Twilight Sparkle's castle?" he asked harshly.

"Well…" Fluttershy began, shivering, before she narrowed her eyes and glared at the guard.__"TWILIGHT! OH MY CELESTIA! SHE TURNED INTO A STUPID DEMON AND IS THREATENING TO DESTROY EQUESTRIA AND SHE IS GOING TO KILL EVERYONE AND I AM JUST TRYING TO GET INTO HER FLIPPING PALACE TO GET HER FLIPPING DRAGON COMPANION SPIKE SO I CAN SEND A MESSAGE TO CELESTIA! DOES THAT ANSWER YOUR QUESTION? SO AM I ALLOWED IN?" Fluttershy screamed, and realized she had yelled. She quickly lowered her head, "if you don't mind, that is."

The guard gulped and nodded. "Celestia told us to report any suspicious behaviour from Twilight anyway."

Fluttershy curiously tilted her head. "Did Celestia know she was going to turn into… _this_?" Fluttershy asked.

"Well… she was a bit suspicious," the guard replied, before turning around and striding away, behind a tree where some fellow guards were hiding. Fluttershy opened the palace door and strolled inside.

"Spike? Are you here?" she called, looking around nervously. _Why are all the lights off?_

"Fluttershy? Is that you?" The baby dragon came running up and gave Fluttershy a hug. "Oh thank Celestia it's you! I have been so scared, and worried about Twilight lately. What brings you here?"

Fluttershy cowered a bit. "Twilight has turned into some demon or something. Now I need your help to send a letter to Celestia so we can warn her about it."

Spike nodded obediently, before retrieving a scroll. Fluttershy explained what was going on, while Spike scribbled it down. Once she was done, he looked up.

"Hey, you're being a lot more confident than usual, lately," he confusedly raised an eyebrow.

_Well… Discord needs my help. _She didn't say that to Spike though, and replied with a simple shrug.

~Celestia~

"Luna! Come now! This is urgent!" Celestia ran down the hall, levitating her scroll alongside her, and ran to the balcony where Luna was.

"Wait… I'm still raising the moon…" Luna squinted. Celestia waited impatiently until Luna was completely finished, and her glorious moon stood, glistening in the sky.

"Now wha-" Luna had no time to finish her sentence, as the scroll was shoved in her eyes. Luna peeled it off her face and began reading the paragraph. Once she was done, she stared up at Celestia in horror.

"This isn't good…" Luna whispered.

Celestia nodded, and raised her voice. "Round all the guards up and bring them to Ponyville! We have a problem… A _really _big problem!"

~Discord~

He watched Fluttershy, as she flew off. _Oh I hope she'll be alright. _He glared at the monster which looked like Twilight. _And now I will fight with everything I've got to make sure she'll be alright._

"Hey, so monster thing… we never got your name… or should we just keep calling you Twilight?" Discord jeered, catching the demon's attention.

"How _dare _you mock _me_! I am your master! Obey!" The monster sent a powerful blast at Discord, but the draconequus easily stepped to the side.

"You're name?" Discord asked. The monster shuddered, before glaring at Discord.

"What does it matter? I am now Twilight. She is now_ me_!" the monster hit the ground, causing the earth to rip up, spontaneously knocking some ponies over.

"Ok Twilight. How about you stop picking on some poor defenceless ponies and battle me instead, eh'?" Discord grinned mischievously.

"Ok. I will enjoy this," the monster replied, a smug expression entering her face. With a spasm from her horn, all the ponies pinned to the ground, were stuffed in a massive cage, leaving a bare ground for Discord and Twilight to battle.

"Hmm… It could still be better," Discord mumbled, summoning a giant boxing rink, in which Twilight and Discord stood in. "Wait, who will be the referee?" Discord hissed. He flicked his fingers, summoning Rainbow Dash out of the cage, and forced her to sit on the seat at the side of the rink.

"What the…" Rainbow Dash began, as a whistle and a hat was spawned onto her. She glared at Discord, trying to get up, but her butt was stuck to the chair. "Really Discord? Really?" Rainbow sighed, but her attention got to the game.

Twilight and Discord faced each other. Circles of hate spun in their eyes.

"Match starts in…" Rainbow howled, "3… 2… 1… FIGHT!"

Twilight was first to strike; a blast of fire exploding from her horn, but Discord easily dodged it, summoning a bathtub above Twilight. She gasped and plunged out of the way, but got her wing caught under it. Discord summoned a fairy floss cloud above her and it started raining chocolate milk.

Twilight raised an eyebrow, "really?" But she spoke too soon, as a blast of lightning struck from the cloud, electrocuting her. She scowled at him in hatred, and teleported out of it, flinging herself at Discord, physically harming him now, as she gave him a black eye with a burly punch. Discord snarled in pain, and bit her tail, clenching down, and flipping her off him. Discord then summoned a dozen snakes, which came slivering up Twilight's legs. She gasped in horror, as the serpents worked their way towards her. Twilight flew up and summoned a full raged attack, firing a huge gust of wind at Discord, making him trip over. She then spawned rocks falling from the sky onto him. Discord yowled in pain, as some of the heavy rocks knocked all the air out of him, but he summoned a tornado, picking up the rocks and Twilight. She wailed in surprise as the massive whirlwind whooshed her around. She broke free and summoned a sword, lashing it at Discord, narrowly missing his claw.

"So you wanna play rough, eh?" Discord asked, furiously, before summoning a sword of his own, and whizzed it towards her, delivering deadly blows. She swiftly dodged every slash, before picking up her game, and defending every blow with her own sword. They constantly clanged against one another. Discord jumped up as one of her blows was aimed at his feet. He flew up before came crashing down on her, his sword pointed, but she jumped out the way, the sword digging into the ground of the boxing rink. Discord raised an eyebrow, as she smugly took a threatening step forward, but Discord easily disappeared before she could swipe the sword at him. She turned around, but it was too late, as Discord shoved her into a bag, and zipped it shut. She flayed around in the bag for a while, as Discord summoned a big glass bowl full of water, and shoved the bag with her in it. She quickly thought, and teleported her way out, throwing a bomb at Discord. Discord noticed the bomb, and quickly turned it into a flower before it could explode. He grinned at Twilight and levitated her off the ground, before smacking her hard against the earth. She teleported out of his levitation, before summoning loads of knives, flinging them at him. He was quick to dodge them, but not all of them, as one of the knives, managed to catch his tail. He glared at her, picking the knife out of his bleeding tail, and threw it at her. She squeaked, trying to dodge it, by ducking down, but she was not quick enough, for it caught the nick of her ear. She was about to summon shards of glass to fall on Discord, when Rainbow Dash blew the whistle.

"Stop the fight! Stop fighting! STOP!" she snarled. Both Discord and Twilight turned to her, narrowing their eyes, to see what she had to say.

"This fight is going _far_ too long. How about we make a new rule? No magic allowed. The battle will be a full out fight to the end," Rainbow Dash grinned.

"Fair enough," Twilight narrowed her eyes.

Discord was a bit unsure though. What was he without his magic? But he didn't want to show his fear, and replaced it with sheer determination. "All right then." _I'm doing this for Fluttershy._

They faced each other on either side of the rink again.

"Ok…" Rainbow Dash hollered. "3… 2… 1… FIGHT!"

Twilight charged forward, at speed, Discord was quite impressed at. She lunged onto him, pinning him to the ground, and punching him with her hoof. Discord slipped out of her grasp, and tripped her over with his tail, before stepping back, in a defensive stance, ready for her next attack. She got up, quicker than he expected, and pounced on him again, only for him to step to the side, and kick her belly at the same time. She summersaulted in the air, before landing on his back, and bit onto his neck.

"Really?" he grumbled, shaking his head vigorously, flinging her off. She glared at him.

"You're no attacker Discord. You're just one stupid defender. Come on! Fight me!"

"Attacking's not in my nature, but very well," Discord scowled, before lunging forward, delivering nasty blows with his claw onto her front legs. She shied back, before lunging forward, clenching her teeth onto his antlers, and tried crawling up onto his head, but Discord smacked his head onto the ground, knocking the air out of Twilight. He then smacked her to the side aggressively. She rolled over, dodging the blow, and hopped up.

Discord was first to strike again, using his tail to wrap around one of Twilight's back legs, and held her up in the air haughtily. She thrashed around in his tail's grasp, but she was unable to break free, and the distance between her and the ground was wide, because Discord was now flying quite high. He then through her down to the ground, with his tail's strength, only for her to soften the fall, by robustly flapping her wings. She then flew above Discord, and pushed him back down to the earth, where she tripped him up and pinned him down. Twilight was about to deliver a death blow, when a high pitched voice screamed:

"Get off him NOW!" A pale yellow blur, flew into sight, bowling Twilight off Discord, and pinning her to the ground. "You monster! Get out of my friend Twilight NOW!"

"What would be the fun in that?" Twilight sneered, trying to struggle out of Fluttershy's grip, but the yellow Pegasi was too strong.

Rainbow Dash was aimlessly blowing the whistle, trying to get the battle to stop, for the sake of her friend, but no one would listen.

Discord got up, brushing some dust off him, before coming to Fluttershy's side, having Twilight pinned to the ground, glaring at the two of them.

"You revolting nemesis! How dare you! How _dare _you!" Fluttershy roared, giving Twilight a nasty kick in the teeth.

_That's my girl! _Discord thought proudly.

"What is going on here?" rang a voice throughout the whole area. Discord nervously looked up. He stepped to the side to reveal Fluttershy and Twilight.

Celestia narrowed her eyes. "Fluttershy?"

Fluttershy looked up, and anxiously bowed her head, but kept Twilight held down.

Luna came to Celestia's side, and tilted her head, examining Twilight, and gave a miserable nod to Celestia.

"I am afraid Twilight has been invaded by a dark spirit. Both me and Celestia are unsure what to do in the time being, but wait, and hope, that the real Twilight is fighting back to this tyrant," Luna mumbled.

"Should we keep her locked up?" Celestia asked her younger sister, who nodded.

"Thank you Discord and Fluttershy for spearing us time. We deeply appreciate it," Celestia gave them a dip of the head.

"No! You are not keeping me locked up!" Twilight cried, struggling from Fluttershy's grip, which had softened. She pushed the Pegasi over, and turned to Celestia and Luna, who had both, took a step back in fright. Discord growled at Twilight, and Fluttershy was getting ready to pounce again.

"You will never get me. NEVER! Six million years I have waited and I am NOT going to let it be put into a dungeon!" With that, Twilight teleported away.

~Twilight~

Pitch blackness, was all she saw, as she turned around in circles and circles.

"Hello? Anyone here?" she called apprehensively. "Where am I?"

Suddenly, another form approached her. Twilight stepped back in fear, as the entire creature was, was a white mist.

"Twilight, Twilight, Twilight. Thank you for donating your life _to me_!" the creature laughed evilly.

"What have you done?" Twilight asked in horror.

"That book you read. The one on Dark Magic. Does it sound familiar?" the creature smirked.

"Yes! But I returned it to Celestia and Luna! I didn't try any of the magic from it!" Twilight glared at the creature.

"Oh, Twilight. How naïve you are, poor, poor thing. All you need to do is _read _the book, for the dark spirits to take over you."

"B-but…" Twilight stuttered, and tears slid down her face. They were icy cold, and when they hit the ground, they vaporised. "Where am I?"

The creature came closer to her, so the misty form was almost touching her. "I've hidden you in your self-conscience. Where your thoughts come to life. But you now are nothing but a memory. I am now you. I am living you, outside, in the real world."

Twilight shuddered. "What are you doing right now?"

"Why explain it to you, when I can show it to you?" The creature beckoned her to follow, and she reluctantly followed the white mist, through the darkness, until they reached two holes, where light shone through.

"These are your eyes," the creature nodded. Twilight trotted up, and peered through the pupal. She saw a magic blast coming out and saw many ponies forced to bow to the ground. Then she heard her voice. It was booming, and it sounded cruel. It may sound like her voice, but it wasn't her speaking. The mist stood next to her, and peered out.

"Sad, isn't it?" The mist turned to her. "Don't worry; I'll save those you love, because I'm not _completely _heartless."

Twilight turned around and glared to the creature. "Please let me free! Please!"

"I'm sorry, but I can't do that Twilight. I have been waiting six million years for this day, and I cannot let it be ripped away from me."

Twilight got into an attacking stance. "Then I shall fight you."

The creature turned to her doubtfully. "Oh Twilight, I was really hoping we could be friends, because we'll be living with each other for quite a while, but if you wish so." The mist then turned to her. They walked away from the eyes, and to the middle of the room, circling each other hatefully.

Twilight tried to power her horn up, but she didn't have any magic. All her magic was in the pony outside the self-conscience. The pony which looked like her, and technically was her, but wasn't her on the inside.

"Poor Twilight. I forgot to mention- Regular Magic doesn't work here," the creature snorted.

"Very well, but I will still fight you with my hooves," Twilight replied determinedly. She immediately stormed forward, knocking at the spirit. It zipped over her, and knocked her off her feet from behind. She flipped over and landed on her back. The creature peered over at her.

"Are you sure you want to fight?"

Twilight glared up at the creature, and rolled over, getting back onto her hooves. "Positive." She then charged up, this time, more successful, knocking the mist over, and slashing the side of it with her hoof, with a nasty blow. She clenched her teeth into the mist, hauling it off the ground, over her head, and knocking it onto the floor with a thud. She then pounced onto it, clamping her hooves around what she thought was its neck. The creature struggled a bit, and then went limp. She softened a grip a tiny bit, only for it to kick her off, and charge. It bawled its head into her side, knocking the air out of her lunges. While she was still regaining her breathe, it then kicked her furiously onto the side. She coughed, before swiping at its face. It tried nicking her ear, but she jumped to the side, and head-butted it's legs, forcing it to trip over.

Although the mist just looked like one big blob, she was now pinpointing where each body part was. She lunged onto it, slapping its face before giving it a kick with her front legs. She clamped her teeth around its neck then, biting as had as possible, before it shook wildly, flinging her off it, with such a force, she went airborne, and landed on the ground with a heavy thump. The creature released a loud screech, and pounced on her, tearing its teeth into her back, and shaking her from side to side, like a dog with a chew toy. Twilight let out a low cry, before kicking it hard in the teeth, and gave it a knock on the head with her hoof. It let her go from its grasp, massaging its head from the kick she h

ad given. Giving a roar, it pounced onto her. She wasn't ready for this attack and fell onto her back with a screech. It had her steadily pinned down, no matter how hard she struggled.

"I am sorry Twilight. Do you want to stop fighting?" the creature questioned.

"I'd rather die," snapped Twilight, giving another scuffle but failed. The creature tilted its head, wondering what to do, before it made up its mind. The white mist, gave Twilight one, hefty bash on her head. Twilight's vision went blurry, and then everything went black.

~Rainbow Dash~

She gulped, after Twilight disappeared. _Oh no… Now there's a dark spirit on the loose! _She turned to Discord.

"Hey, can you please let me move around?" she asked. The draconequus looked up.

"Oh yeah," he mumbled, and set all the ponies free, from the cage which Twilight had created. Discord then got rid of the boxing rink.

"What about me?" Rainbow Dash asked irritated, still sitting on the chair on the outside of the now, non-existent rink.

"Nah- I prefer you sitting there," Discord grinned.

"Discord…" Fluttershy barked. Discord quickly set Rainbow Dash free from the spell, avoiding Fluttershy's glare. Rainbow Dash stumbled a bit, not used to standing up after sitting down for a while, but she eventually got used to it. All of the ponies who had been locked up in the cage went running home, screaming, except for Rarity, Applejack and Pinkie Pie.

"That was awesome!" Pinkie squealed, hopping up and down, and then stopped, when she realized she was receiving glares from her ponies. "Uh… awesomely horrible! Yes!"

"What do we do now?" Fluttershy asked, timidly trotting up to Celestia and Luna.

Luna stared at the ground, her eyes blank, and she peered hopefully at her sister. "Any ideas Celestia?" The night Alicorn asked.

Celestia winced at the question, and cowered at the glances her fellow ponies were delivering. "I don't know," was all the sun princess replied.

Rainbow Dash stared up in horror. _Oh no… not even Princess Celestia knows what to do. _

"In a situation like this, only Twilight would know what to do," Rarity stared at the ground miserably.

Celestia looked up. "Exactly! But I believe the old Twilight isn't completely gone. If I didn't know any better, her soul is being hidden somewhere. Luna… do you think you would be able to travel into her dreams?"

Luna stared at her sister in horror. "But how will I be able to pinpoint the exact Twilight? What if I appear in the Dark Spirit's mind instead? What if… What if Twilight is now… dead?"

"Don't speak like that sister! I'm sure Twilight is ok. Can you at least try?" Celestia pleaded.

"I'll do what I can," Luna dipped her head obediently.

Celestia then turned to Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Applejack and Pinkie Pie. "The Element of Magic, may not be available right now, but we still have the other five Elements. Kindness, Loyalty, Generosity, Honesty and Laughter. If you five would be able to wear your Elements of Harmony as much as possible now, and next time we confront Twilight, try to activate them, which may be what can defeat Twilight… I doubt it though… I mean… without Magic, I'm not sure the other elements would work."

Rainbow Dash nodded alongside her friends. She would do whatever it took to get her friend back. But then she paused… They would have to save Twilight by tomorrow… otherwise… there would be no Element of Loyalty. She would have to go to the Wonderbolts after that. Rainbow Dash stepped forward and explained her problem to Celestia.

"Then we'll have to be extra quick," the Sun Princess sighed in reply.

Finally Celestia turned to Discord. "Do whatever you can to find Twilight. You have more power than any of us, and if you could possibly try your hardest to find her, that would be a big help." The draconequus nodded as a reply.

"Meanwhile, I'll read through some books on this, to try and find out if there's anything I can do."

As all the ponies went their own, separate paths, Rainbow Dash couldn't help let out a silent prayer.

_Please be alright Twilight._


	5. The Dream

~Chapter Five~

~The Dream~

~Pinkie Pie~

_Worst. Party. EVER. _Pinkie Pie miserably walked up to her remaining firework cannons, which she hadn't had the chance to explode yet. Pinkie Pie found a broken lighter on the ground, and she picked it up, and fiddled with it a bit, eventually fixing it. She lit it up, and put the fire next to the strings of the firework cannons. At first they made a quiet, crackling sound, before a loud explosion, as the twinkling colours soared across the sky. Pinkie Pie nestled down in the grass, watching her own fireworks display. Tears ran down her eyes, as every boom lit up the name of all of Rainbow Dash's friends. The forth name read out: ** TWILIGHT**. Pinkie Pie sobbed slightly. What had gone wrong? Before they were all so happy, and then BOOM! Twilight was being so _mean_! The fight was kind of cool though… the one between Twilight and Discord. Pinkie Pie was unsure who to support! What if Discord killed Twilight? Would that mean they'd never get the old Twilight back? And what if Twilight killed Discord? _NO MORE COTTON CANDY CLOUDS?! _Pinkie Pie couldn't think of possibly _anything _which could be worse than that.

"Pinkie Pie!" Rarity called. Pinkie Pie turned around to see Rarity cantering up to her.

"Hi Rarity! I wasn't crying just then or anything," Pinkie Pie fake-cheered. Rarity didn't say anything to that; she just gave Pinkie Pie her amulet to put around the neck. The golden one, which held Pinkie's element of harmony in it.

"Thanks Rarity!" Pinkie Pie shrilled, and placed the chain around her neck.

"No problem," Rarity yawned, and stumbled away. Pinkie Pie yawned as well, and trotted up to where she thought was home, but instead, was towards the Everfree Forest. Too tired to realise where she was going, she continued trotting around. Pinkie Pie's eyes were half closed now, as she trotted further and further into the undergrowth.

Yawning, Pinkie Pie mumbled, "I should be back home at Sugarcube Corner by now…" But Pinkie Pie kept walking, until her aching muscles could take it no more. She tripped over a tree rout, and fell face first onto the grass. Almost instantly, she was forced into a deep, dreamless sleep.

…

When she woke up, it was a bit later that night, and she was no longer on the grass. Pinkie Pie was in fact, in Zecora's hut.

"Pinkie Pie, I see you've woken. I'm surprised you have not yet spoken," Zecora approached the pink mare curiously.

"What? How did I get here?" Pinkie Pie peered around in surprise.

"I saw you asleep in the Everfree, I couldn't let the animals have you for tea," replied the zebra.

"Oh no… I must have been so tired I just walked right into the forest, without realizing where I was going." Pinkie Pie's stomach growled and Zecora gave her some soup. "Well now that I'm here, I may as well ask you for help." Pinkie Pie explained what had happened to Twilight.

"Those dark spirits are no good at all. They steal your body, but keep your soul," replied Zecora.

"Is there any way we can help get the old Twilight back?" Pinkie Pie asked.

Zecora looked down at the ground. "Something to help set Twilight free? I do not know of such remedy."

Pinkie Pie looked up miserably. "Is there a possibility that Twilight will come back though?"

"Just wait, only time can tell, and maybe that monster will be sent back to hell."

~Dark Spirit~

She watched, peering out the cave which she was hidden in for any upcoming danger. She could be no happier than she was right now. Finally she had been set free from the pages, and now she could get revenge. Revenge on all pony-kind. And there couldn't have been any better pony than Twilight Sparkle, to fall into the trap.

She squinted, and saw some silhouetted structures from Equestria in the distance. Soon they would be hers. All hers! Excitement flooded over the Dark Spirit.

"What I can do! All those possibilities!" _What you need to do now is rest,_ she told herself. "So when the time is right, I can strike with full power, and there will be _nothing _to stop me!" She backed away into the cave, and felt the cool stone under her hooves, spicing up her heart, making her veins run icier blood. And she sang.

_Oh, their innocence.  
They don't know what's going to come to them!_

She spun in circles, using her magic to shoot icy snowflakes over the cave.

_They desperate ponies,  
they can't harm a fur on my head!_

She forced the snowflakes to the ground suddenly, and they melted under her hooves.

_Soon I will be their ruler.  
Soon I'll retrieve my throne!  
They can't do anything to stop me!  
I'm going to destroy all their hopes!_

She morphed an ice crown and dipped her head, for it to levitate over her horn.

_They can't run, they can't hide.  
Their queen's going to find.  
They cannot disobey my rules!_

_I'll chain them up,  
with their necks,  
Then corrupt  
All their nests,  
They cannot flee from their queen!_

_I work my way up the ranks.  
Make them pay, for what they did.  
I will be the one who is going to win!_

"I will be the one who is going to win," she repeated before nestling down in a bed of snow and fell asleep.

The tiny lullaby she made up- with such a sweet tune. Anypony could only listen to the harmony and consider the innocence. If there was only lyrics, those words could send a pony crying in fear, grasping for dear life.

~Twilight~

_She opened her eyes. Around Twilight, was a grey room, with lots of seats, each seated by different ponies. Twilight recognised all of them. There were all of her five friends, and the princesses and her family, including here parents and Shining Armour. They all glared at her though._

"_What's going on?" Twilight asked peering around, before her head was forced up, to… herself? An exact copy of Twilight was standing on the highest seat in the whole room. She was also glaring down at her._

"_Twilight is sentenced for to reading an illegal book. Have you got any words to defend yourself?" snarled the other Twilight._

_The real Twilight's eyes widened. "This is all a mistake!" She turned to Celestia, "please forgive me! I didn't mean to read the book!"_

_Celestia just turned away._

_Twilight stared around. Everyone was turning away. "And that pony isn't me! I mean, it looks like me, but it isn't!" Twilight desperately looked around._

"_Of course it's not you! It's Twilight," Pinkie Pie jeered._

"_The consequences to this action permit to… DEATH!" The fake Twilight lampooned._

"_No… NO!" The real Twilight cried. "Please believe me! PLEASE! That Twilight isn't real! I'm Twilight!"_

"_Kill her! Kill her! Kill her!" everyone in the crowd intoned._

_Twilight turned around to see two royal guards marching up to her, each holding a sword. Twilight tried to back away, but she was locked in the spot. The guards tilted their heads up, ready to do the death blow, when a loud voice charred the audience._

"_LEAVE THEE ALONE! OFF THEE BEASTS! THOU NEVER RETURN!" _

_All of the guards and ponies in the audience and the fake Twilight disappeared into a mist, before vaporising and turning the room completely black._

_Twilight looked up to her saviour. "Princess Luna! Thank you so much!" Twilight cried, running up to the Night Princess before her, giving her a hug. Luna's face looked concerned, and Twilight went serious, facing the princess, waiting for her to interrogate._

"_Where are you hidden? Where are you sleeping right now?" Luna questioned._

_Twilight cringed, "in my self-conscience. I'm not alone in there… There is a weird white fog as well. I tried to battle it earlier, but it ended up knocking me out," Twilight explained to the princess._

"_The soul that has enhanced your body right now craves tyranny. They managed to escape us, but I am afraid that they might be coming back soon. The only way to get you back, Twilight, is to kill that white mist. That mist is the soul of the Dark Spirit itself. I'm not sure what happens after that, for this has never happened before, but I trust thee to try," Luna nodded, before giving a miserable expression. "If thou don't succeed, we will be forced to… kill thou. That is the only other way to get rid of the Dark Spirit, but if we do that… It will mean thee die too."_

_Twilight nodded. "That is the price to pay for reading that book. I caused this problem, it will be me who fixes it and makes everything right."_

_Luna nodded. The blackness around them started to shrivel like a plant, and peel down like wallpaper._

"_You are awakening. Thou stay strong Twilight! May thee light of my moon, and of Celestia's sun guide you, in the most darkest of times forever!"_

_Everything was overpowered by a blinding light, and then nothing._

…

Twilight opened her eyes, remembering where she was and looked around, searching for what Luna had blessed her with. "…_May thee light of my moon, and of Celestia's sun guide you, in the most darkest of times forever!" _The words still ricocheted in Twilight's mind.

"I need to find light… but how?" Twilight mumbled.

"I see you have awakened. Sorry for bashing you out before, but I was getting tired, and it was clear you were not going to give up."

Twilight looked up at the white mist, and tried to seize on it, but she couldn't move a muscle. She was paralysed.

"Oh, yeah! I couldn't risk you getting up again, so I decided to paralyse you!" The mist sneered. Twilight just glowered at it.

"Let. Me. Go," she scowled.

"But what would be the fun in that? Besides, you might make not a bad sculpture to put up somewhere…"

"I _refuse _to become one of your garden ornaments," snapped Twilight.

The mist didn't answer, only came closer.

Twilight's limp-self tried to twitch the slightest. How she despised this mist. How she longed to give it one nasty slap with her hoof.

"Come to think of it, you're not bad company, even if all you feel for me is hatred," the mist alleged coolly.

Twilight could feel the iciness of the mist, as the moving fog brushed her fur.

"Get away from me," Twilight hissed through gritted teeth.

"Are you afraid of me?" the fog asked maliciously.

"You should be the one petrified of what I'm going to do to you…" Twilight hollered.

"No, no. I can only look forward to it." The haze disappeared.

~Celestia~

_The crumbling states of the structures. Fearful screams resonated throughout the air, pinning Celestia to the ground as if the cries were hitting her physically. Celestia used her hooves to cover her ears, but the moans of terror only got louder. Pain like no other hit Celestia, sharper than any knife. More depressing than any death._

"_No… stop!" Celestia's eyes widened, so much that the boiling red veins bulged out furiously from her pink eyes. "Stop!"_

_A cheer of bliss made time slow down. Every falling bit of debris stopped and slowed 80% more. Celestia raised a hoof, over her head and squinted. Her sun was even turning on her, blazing more furious than ever before, scorching the tortured souls beneath._

_The laugh sounded again. It was sort of like a little school-fillies laugh. The laugh belonged to a child. One of Celestia's subjects. The laugh was so innocent, but something about it… made it sound more… wicked? Celestia saw the source of the laugh. A tiny lavender filly which had blue-black hair with pink and purple highlights. Her flank was blank, and she had glistening purple eyes._

"_Twilight Sparkle?" Celestia approached the filly, who had a massive smile on her face. "My faithful student?"_

"_Princess Celestia!" the filly screeched. Hope lifted in Celestia's mind. Could this be her? The filly bowed her head, crouched as low as possible. "Oh what a fan I am of you! How honoured I am to meet a princess!"_

_Celestia tilted her head. "Twilight, you are a princess-" then Celestia noticed. The filly was no Alicorn, just a plain unicorn. "Oh what am I thinking? You're only a filly. What are you to know about your future," Celestia sighed and turned her head._

"_Celestia! Don't worry! I'll save you!" Celestia turned her head to see another Twilight filly. She lunged on the Twilight Celestia had been talking too, and dissolved into the filly's soul._

"_What are you doing?" Celestia cried in horror. Twilight filly's eyes flashed red._

"_Now it's your turn Celestia!" She screeched, before lunging at Celestia._

_The princess's eyes flashed white before shaking her head furiously, flipping the filly off._

"_Twilight! Stop!"_

"_Never! I am not Twilight I am Nightmare Moon!" The filly howled, before turning into the evil version of Celestia's younger sister, Luna._

"_What?" Celestia backed away in horror._

"_No, I am Tirek!" The pony before Celestia turned into the monster who had recently attempted to take over Equestria who was now in Tarturas._

"_What is going on?" Celestia was now pressed against a wall, staring in horror at what was next._

"_Oh Celestia. I should stop lying. The truth is… I am actually you!" The creature's final form was a spitting image of Celestia before her. The princess stared in awe, and cocking her head, trying to work out what was going on. There was no mirror, it was truly… herself._

"_Why could I do this…?" Celestia sat down miserably, gesturing to the torn up town._

"_You'd think I'd stop at Twilight?" asked the other Celestia._

_Celestia's eyes widened. "You!" Celestia leapt forwards, her hooves craving flesh. Flesh she'd never receive as the pony before her dissolved, bellowing out one last evil laugh before everything disappeared into nothingness._

…

"Celestia! Celestia!" Luna rushed into Celestia's room. "I heard you screaming!"

Celestia lowered her head, her eyes still watery with fear. "It was just a nightmare."

"Looks like everypony's having a bad dream tonight," Luna trotted up, and hopped onto the bed next to Celestia. "Tell me, what was this dream about?"

Celestia told her younger sister everything.

"Well at least it was just a nightmare, nothing else," Luna offered.

"I'm not sure…" Celestia lowered her head, "it seemed awfully realistic."

"Well it's over now," Luna nuzzled her sister, before hopping back off the bed. A mischievous grin mounted on Luna's face, "sleep tight, little filly!"

Celestia felt ridiculous. _She _used to be the one who comforted Luna after nightmares. Now it was the other way around.

~Discord~

"Oh, this is the second time I've hurt Twilight this week! And this time it was physical! How could I?" Fluttershy hid under her mane in fear.

"Remember, it wasn't really Twilight," Discord reminded.

"Oh! But I've never hurt _anyone _physically before! Oh my Celestia! Am I now a mean pony?" Fluttershy cowered. Discord only smiled.

"No. She was about to kill me, and your instincts kicked in. Fluttershy, I'd be dead right now if you hadn't done that."

Fluttershy looked up. "Really?"

Discord nodded. "Yes."

"Well I'm glad I did it then!" Fluttershy smiled, giving Discord a light hug, before turning away. "I need to get back to my cottage now. Bye Discord… remember, you have a job to do from Celestia."

Then he remembered. _Oh yeah, I have to find Twilight. _He made it look like he was working, but he was really watching Fluttershy trot away. She had _hugged_ him! Well… she had hugged him many other times, and he had hugged her, but this was the first time _she _had hugged him after the encounter with Tirek. And how pleased he was at that. He'd been missing her. And she must be a true friend indeed, considering she was willing to attack her own best friend to save his life. Of course, Discord wasn't actually _planning _to die. He intended to teleport out of Twilight's grasp _just _before the blow hit him, but the fact Fluttershy had actually cared, and had sacrificed her for him, had only made matters more satisfying.

Fluttershy disappeared into the distance, only a silhouette against the majestic moon.

Discord then got back on track. He needed to locate Twilight.

"Here, Twilight, Twilight, Twilight," he called, as if he was looking for a cat. "Puss, puss, puss!"

He peered under a rock. No Twilight. He looked in a tree. No Twilight. He teleported to the moon. No Twilight.

"How to find Twilight," he mumbled, now back in Ponyville. He morphed a detective hat and gown on him, with a magnifying glass. "How to _detect _Twilight." He then sent several stalking- ahem, _finding _spells, but he was unable to locate her. He then looked at her history on a big screen, but as soon as Twilight changed into the Dark Spirit, he could no longer see anything. The screen just went static. "Hmmph," he grumbled. The Dark Spirit had obviously cleared up her evidence pretty well.

"Well if I can't do this draconequus style, I'll have to do this," he cringed, "_pony _style."

He was now looking for any evidence Twilight could have left behind. All he found were some splats of her blood on the ground in which he had fought her. She had teleported somewhere, therefore there was absolutely _no _possible trail of her in between the area she had teleported _from _and the area she had teleported _to. Why does she have to make things so complicated? _Even Discord's magic had its limits. There was no way he could track her down. _Well, if the cat can't catch the mouse, the cat will just have to wait for the mouse to come out the hole._

~The Next Morning~

~Fluttershy~

Today was Rainbow Dash's last day. _No! _Fluttershy cantered out of her cottage. She was still a little sleepy, and stifled a yawn. She stretched out her wings and took flight. It didn't take her long to reach Rainbow Dash's home in the sky.

"Rainbow Dash! Rainbow Dash!" she chirped, knocking on the front door.

A very sleepy Rainbow Dash came out the door, and gave a massive yawn. "Oh… Hey Fluttershy. What brings you here?" There were bags under Rainbow Dash's eyes, influencing that she hadn't received much sleep.

"Today is your last day in Ponyville before you go to the Wonderbolts, and I thought it would be nice if we could spend the day together," Fluttershy smiled up sleepily, rubbing her eyes.

"My… last…" Rainbow Dash lowered her head down and began to snore, but then her head shot up. "MY LAST?" Rainbow Dash hopped up. Whatever signs of tiredness Rainbow Dash had before were now gone. "Yes! I need to spend this day with my friends! Let's stop at Rarity's first, we need to receive our Elements of Harmony."

Fluttershy nodded, and followed her friend out the door. The two Pegasi reached Rarity's in no time.

"Rarity!" Rainbow Dash called. The door swung open and a tired Rarity stood at the door.

"Hi girls… what are you three here for?" she asked.

Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy looked around. "Um… Rarity… There's only two of us here," Fluttershy mentioned.

"Oh, sorry. Well… what brings you two here?" Rarity groaned.

"Well… It's my last day in Ponyville, and I wanted to spend time with my friends, and it would also be nice if we could get our Elements of Harmony?" Rainbow Dash offered.

"Oh! Yes!" Rarity was no longer tired, and she trotted inside, before returning with two amulets in her mouth. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy speedily put them on.

"How about we wake the rest of our friends up?" Rarity asked. "I still need to give Applejack her amulet."

"Of course," Fluttershy replied.

The three of them got to Sweet Apple Acres eventually, and Applejack was already up, doing her Agility Course with Apple Bloom. They couldn't find Pinkie Pie though.

"Where was the last place any of ya'll saw her?" Applejack questioned.

"I was the last," Rarity stepped forward. "I gave her, her amulet and she was still at the party, looking pretty sad.

Fluttershy thought for a moment. "Maybe we should go to the party area then… I doubt she'd _be _there, but I'm sure she might be near there."

Every other pony agreed, and the four of them trotted (or in Rainbow Dash's case, flew) to the party area. It wasn't the same as it had been last night. The ground was littered, and had some splats of blood all over the place. The balloons had all deflated or popped, and the streamers were no longer neatly set up, but all over the place. The stage Pinkie had set up had all scrapes on the sides, and the microphone and it's stand had been tipped over.

"So… where's Pinkie?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"I'm here!" chirped the squeaky voice, and the sounds of nearing hoof steps intensified. Soon the bright pink mare burst out of the Everfree forest and approached them.

"What were you doing in the Everfree forest?" All four of them asked in unison.

"Well, I was like, so tired, so I ran into the forest, thinking I was running to Sugarcube Corner, and then I fell asleep in the middle of it, and then Zecora saw me, and she took me to her home and I asked her if there was any way we could get Twilight back, and she said no, and then I had a _sleepover _at her place! It was so fun!" Pinkie rambled.

"Of course. How didn't I guess that," Rarity muttered.

"Wait. Did she say there was no way we would get the real Twilight back?" Rainbow Dash questioned in horror.

"Oh! No! She said there was no cure for it. So she can't just use her leaves and stuff to create a medicine. But she said that if we wait, time can tell whether Twilight can escape. And she made everything rhyme!" Pinkie shrilled.

The other four nodded.

"_Just wait, only time can tell, and maybe that monster will be sent back to hell."_


	6. The Lullaby

~Chapter 6~

~The Lullaby~

~Twilight Sparkle~

_How to escape, how to escape?_ Twilight peered around cautiously, before trying to bring a small source of magic into her horn, but nothing worked. _Rules, rules, stupid rules! Why can't I cast just one simple spell? _Twilight could feel tears start to form in her eyes. She suddenly heard a low mumble. She pricked her ears and heard a tune. _Someone is singing... _The paralysationwas reluctantly wearing off, however, Twilight managed to hobble up, onto her shaking legs. She forked her way to her eyes so she could peer out and see what was happening in the outside world. Her legs were awkward, and she moved like a newborn foal. It was enough though, as she was soon able to peer out her pupils, and hear herself singing on the outside. Twilight saw that she was currently in a cave. If she had known this information earlier, she could have told Luna. _Oh well. Too late for that now. _The lyrics to what the dark spirit was singing were inaudible, but the tune was clear. It reminded Twilight of a lullaby she had sung when she was little. _Oh, what were the lyrics to it again? _Twilight tried to remember. The little song had meant so much to her when she was younger. Her mother, Twilight Velvet had always sung the song to Twilight Sparkle when she felt ill, and the song always seemed to boost Twilight's strength.

"Oh, what were the lyrics? Light changes darkness, old changes new. Colour changes grey and I love you...? Oh, where was another verse! What was it?" Twilight hissed, scratching her head with a feeble hoof. The mist had only been gone for a few minutes before he returned. Twilight quickly dropped to the ground, to pretend that she was still completely paralysed. If he knew she was perfectly fine, he would probably numb her again.

"Hi Twilight," he edged closer, and Twilight Sparkle grimaced away slightly, but made the attempt look frail.

"Just leave me alone." She spat a sickly blob of saliva at what looked to be the haze's clouded hooves. She shuffled away a little further, making the languid attempts still look like the paralysation slowly wearing off.

"I see you're recovering. That was quick, I expected a puny pony like you to take a lot longer," he sniggered.

"I'm stronger than you think, so you'd better back off before I get _all_ my strength back," she warned. He chuckled for a bit, clearly amused.

"I will leave then. I guess you don't want to know what I'm going to do to your pathetic friends today then," he glowered, before turning away. He waited a few seconds, expecting her to stop him, but she didn't say a word. Twilight heard him muffle something under his breathe before he turned to her again.

"I guess you'll never know how your friends die then. Bye." He turned around again and snaked his way out of the area. Twilight could have sworn he said, _"she really must hate me."_

~Rainbow a Dash~

She could hear the pitter-pattering of the rain against the ground. It wasn't raining though. It was just Pinkie Pie's tears.

"Tw... Twi... light... _Twilight_," Pinkie Pie choked out. Water drizzled down her eyes intensely. Rarity, muttering under her breath put up an umbrella. Fluttershy shied away, hiding under her mane, trying to block the misery from her teal eyes.

"Someone, please stop her before she floods the place!" Rainbow Dash gave a dramatic aghast expression, before quickly yelping, "not it!"

"Not it!" Fluttershy whimpered. Rainbow Dash was surprised and impressed. Fluttershy usually _never_ won at this, as she was too quiet to be heard.

"Not it," Rarity raised her head to the air, in the prissy, determined way. Fluttershy, Rarity and Rainbow Dash turned to Applejack who was covering her ears.

"Um... Applejack... Um... That means that you... Well... If you don't mind... Have to tell her," Fluttershy squeaked, cowering away. Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes, and snatched Applejack's hoof steadily, and pulled it off her ears.

"Applejack! This! Means! You! Have! To! Tell! Pinkie! To! Stop! Crying!" Each word Rainbow Dash bellowed was broken up from the other words by at least one second, but had an equal amount of loudness as the rest. Applejack nervously nodded, and trotted up to Pinkie, patting her back timidly.

"We're all pretty sad, Pinkie, but this is ridiculous. She'al come back, I promise." Applejack's eyes looked hopeful, and she put up a confident expression, however, everything about it seemed... fake.

Pinkie Pie looked up. "Pinkie Promise?"

Applejack didn't reply, considering she was the Element of Honesty, which only made Pinkie get more teary.

Rainbow Dash hated it when Pinkie was like this. "Come on Pinkie. I will be gone after today, and maybe we should spend as much time together, while I'm still here, as possible?"

"Yer right Rainbow Dash," Applejack agreed. Fluttershy nodded alongside her. Rarity only gave a silent glance to the side.

Rainbow Dash looked at Pinkie Pie with pleading eyes, and the pink mare finally gave a weak smile, rubbing tears out of her eyes.

"Okie dokey lockey."

~Dark Spirit~

All the ponies were too busy at the lake to see the lavender mare narrowing her eyes at them in a bush.

"Geronimo!" Pinkie Pie squealed, and went flipping into the lake, splashing Rarity. Rarity stood stiffly, her mane drenched, and dripping madly.

"Haha! Nice one Pinkie!" Rainbow Dash retorted, hoof-bumping Pinkie. Rarity gave an irritated huff.

"I could do better," Applejack called, climbing up the tree Pinkie Pie had sprung down from. "I bet all the apples in the orchid."

"Well I bet all the cupcakes in Sugarcube Corner you won't!" Pinkie Pie shrilled.

Applejack lunged down, and made a massive splash, again, wetting Rarity. The splash was the same height as Pinkie's.

"I guess you both win!" Fluttershy purred.

_I should stir the fun_, the dark spirit thought mischievously.

"I wish Twilight was here," Rainbow Dash mumbled.

Excitedly, the dark spirit came out of her cover, "your prayers have been answered, peasant."

"I take it back!" Rainbow Dash squeaked, trying to hide her fear. The dark spirit stood before the shivering ponies. Her pink eyes glinting deviously, narrowed, and her sharp pointed teeth clamped together. Her mouth curved into a sly grin. Her horn sparked, embers already gathering on the already charred earth underneath her delicate hooves. She stood broadly, and tall, showing no signs of regret. No signs of sympathy. No signs of mercy. Her tail lashed swiftly. Her stance spoke complete dominance. The ponies didn't think so though.

"You should really find another word to use instead of peasant," Rarity chimed. _That foul, ignorant filly. She'll be the first to die when I am in power._

Ignoring the remark, the dark spirit went on, "have you learnt nothing about me yet?" She summoned a cage around them, locking them all up. The cage was cramped, the metal bars stood close together, signalling no chance of escape.

"Hey! Let us go meanie!" Pinkie Pie squawked. _As if!_

"Ok," the dark spirit replied, shrugging.

"Really?" Pinkie Pie's ears perked. _Idiot. I know she's crazy, but is she that gullible?_

"No. Anyway, you now all belong to ME! Your precious Twilight is gone, however, there is one way I'll set her free."

The main six looked up in confusion. The dark spirit enjoyed their misunderstanding.

"Get... her... back?" Fluttershy asked in wander, before whimpering, and shuffling towards the back of the cage, hidden behind the other ponies and tears beginning to surge down her eyes.

"Yes, but I want one pony in return."_ How will the ponies consider this offer? How much will they sacrifice to get Twilight back?_

"Ok! I'll go! Anything to save Twilight!" Pinkie Pie sobbed.

"Not _you _idiot! I want Celestia!" The dark spirit waited a few moments, for the ponies to reveal their shock, but they just stared at her like _she _was the idiot.

"Celestia? Most powerful, high ranked pony in Equestria? Yer kiddin' right?" Applejack asked in amusement. The dark spirit tried to hide her signs of anger. How dare they be laughing at her.

"I am most certainly right. Her power and high rank actually _is_ the reason I want her."

"Didn't take us long to realise that," sniggered Rainbow Dash, but looked away, as if she was prepared to get hurt. _Oh I am going to do more to her than just hurt her. I am going to destroy every single one of them when I finally receive the power I have been waiting for all my life!_

~Fluttershy~

Little did the dark spirit know, but the ponies weren't alone. Spike had came to ask the ponies if they needed any food, and he had seen them in the cage. Fluttershy had noticed him, and crept at the back of the cage. The dark spirit thought she was crying, being the so-called _pitiful_ creature she was, when she was actually giving Spike a message to send to Celestia.

"Tell her that the dark spirit has come and has locked us in a cage at the lake. Tell her to get some help, maybe some royal guards..." Fluttershy whispered to the little baby dragon. He nodded obediently and scribbled a note down, before using his fire to send a green wave to carry the note to the princess. Fluttershy took a deep breathe, feeling a surge of goodness and bravery pulse through her veins. If this is what it felt like to be confident, then she was never going to cower again! She turned to the front of the cage, where the dark spirit was having an argument with Rarity.

"I am not _feral! _Thank you very much. I am a high-class mare, and you do_ not _have the power to call my something vile like that." Rarity spat.

"Actually, I do," the dark spirit scoffed back, sending a powerful wave of magic to Rarity's head, singeing a bit of her hair. Rarity screeched in horror, pawing at her head, before glaring at the dark spirit, her eyes piercing, and vengeful.

"You _monster_! Do you know how _long _it took me to make it absolutely perfect?"

"Oh yeah? Well I am going to make it worse..." The dark spirit looked at Rarity the same way she would look at dirt. Her gaze dull, so full of nothing.

"Stop this tyranny this instant!" A voice boomed above them. It sounded hearty and valorous. They all looked up to see Celestia and half a dozen royal guards trailing after her. The princess's white pelt shone brighter than her sun, in the blinding light. Her hair rippled, with sparkles twinkling ever so softly, and moved briefly, shining blues, pinks and greens, all striped neatly among each other. Her horn, pointed upward, ascendantly. Her chivalric wings with their elegant feathers flapped delicately, yet, opulently. She wore a golden amulet, around her neck, and resplendently around each of her hooves. Her cutie mark of the sun, shone just as bright as the one in the sky, majestic and still noble. Her pink eyes illuminated, screaming out a wily, determined expression and were bright and palatial. The princess dropped radiantly to the ground, her hooves making the slightest clinking sound. Everything about Celestia shouted out regal. The dark spirit looked tenacious, but a speck of light in her eyes spoke fidgety.

"Ah! Celestia! Just the pony I need!" The dark spirit purred, all signs of volatileness had been forced to vanish.

"Set my subjects free... _Now!" _Celestia hollered. She stood before the dark spirit, her royal guards standing behind her ferociously.

"Oh, Celestia. _Why_ would I do something like that?" The dark spirit smirked.

"Because if you don't, the consequences will be brutal," Celestia hissed.

"Well how about I give _you _a deal. You let _me_ take over _you_, and no harm will come to your prissy little followers."

"Who are you calling _prissy_?" Rainbow Dash chortled.

Celestia's eyes clouded. She looked like she was considering the deal. Tears rained down her eyes, and her watery eyes went even more blurry. Almost transparent. Then they cleared. "Fine then. Go ahead."

The dark spirit smirked, and set Twilight's five friends free from the cage.

_No! This can't be happening. As much as I want to be free, and I want Twilight back, I cannot let the dark spirit take over Celestia! Celestia is too powerful. Absolutely terrible things will come if the dark spirit has Celestia! _Fluttershy thought miserably.

"Stop it! Celestia, you cannot do this!" Fluttershy cried, marching up to the princess.

"Get out of the way you pathetic, wimpy Pegasi!" The dark spirit snarled.

Celestia peered down at Fluttershy, her eyes baffled, before they softened. "Trust me," she whispered, her words muffled, as she eyed the dark spirit.

Fluttershy blinked, before stepping out the way, and ran crying, into her friends, trapped in a warm embrace of five shivering bodies.

"Now you are mine! Finally mine!" The dark spirit menaced forward, her horn glistening. A pink wave went shimmering up, powering up the whole horn. Then a powerful beam was shot at Celestia, but it barely reached half the distance, as it was abruptly cut off by a hoof, jamming into the dark spirit's side.

"Ugh," the dark spirit grunted, as she went hammering against the earth. The spirit shot eyes as cool as stone at the pony who was guilty for this act.

"That was too easy," muttered Luna. Fluttershy watched in awe, as the night princess stood over the dark spirit. She had a wily expression in her face, half smug, half serious.

"What? What is happening?" The dark spirit's eyes went flailing around, and she shrieked as a cage was summoned around her.

"I expected her to suspect that getting Celestia like that would be a bit harder," huffed another voice. The one who had summoned the cage, Discord. _What is Discord and Luna doing here? _Fluttershy peered around, just as confused as the dark spirit was.

"This was all a plan?" Pinkie Pie pounded forward in anger. "Why did no one tell me? I could have worn a disguise!" The pink mare held up a moustache.

"Yeah, what gives?" Rainbow Dash stepped forward, a tiny bit enraged.

"Sorry we had to keep this secret. If you had known, you may have given away clues which could put one of you in serious danger," Luna dipped her head apologetically.

"It's still not right to keep something like that from us, though." Fluttershy's eyes glistened in betrayal, mainly aimed at Discord. He glanced at her, and held up his arms like he was surrendering to a gun. All the five mane six were given a few brief minutes which only felt like seconds to take it all in. Their gazes drifted from princess to princess to draconequus until they finally settled on the dark spirit, who sat down in the cage, glaring at them threw Twilight's eyes.

"Now what do we do... With _that_?" Applejack asked, eyeing the dark spirit before turning to Celestia.

There was a silence, before Celestia finally spoke. "I do not know."

"What do you mean you don't know? You're a princess! You are ruler of all Equestria! How can you not know what to do?" Rarity looked a mixture of baffled, worried and irritated at the same time.

"The only real way to get Twilight back, was for her to fight her way out... But because she hasn't done so yet..." A grim expression broke out on Celestia's face.

The dark spirit peered up through the cage.

"Bye, bye Twilight!" It laughed deviously.

Realisation hit Fluttershy like a bullet.

"No..." She breathed out the single word, and it was barely audible. Everything around Fluttershy faded away, as if it was being bit away like an apple. Her face went pale and she felt her racing heart begin to slow, then speed up, then slow. The next thing she saw was the ground, only a few painful inches from her face, before Discord rapidly teleported next to her, and caught her before her face could knock vexatiously against the solid earth. Fluttershy's head ringed severely, and all her bones ached. Others crowded around her worriedly, trying to talk to her, but their words were closed off, by Fluttershy's throbbing head. Discord stood closest, trying to reassure her, warning others to give her space, by what she could see, but even that wasn't enough, as everything went into a lonely blackness.


	7. The Spell

~Chapter 7~

~The Spell~

~Fluttershy~

_She was falling. She was falling. The ground was there, pain waiting impatiently to viciously take over. "Stop..!" she heard the calling. The calling she was unsure who was coming from until she listened closer. It was her own voice. This situation- this moment of her life. She considered it quite surreal. She means, she was plummeting to her death, but she still had time to listen to her pitiful, unappreciated voice crying helplessly for an inexistent help. That wasn't all she listened to. She heard the birds chirping, the leaves of a nearby tree rustling peacefully in a soft wind. She heard some water gushing faintly in a river down below, and a pebble rolling down a bumpy, stone hill. She even had time to wonder why she wasn't using her wings. She guessed that the reason was because this fall was too satisfying to give it all up to a few elegant flaps of her dainty wings. Surreal it was. No better definition. Then she hit the ground._

"Fluttershy?" Her eyes flickered open. Reality had uncovered. It was just as contenting though. Just as satisfying as a dream of falling to her death.

"Discord?" Fluttershy found herself in a hospital room. The constant beep from a machine sat beside her, mimicking her heartbeat. It was quite steady, and Fluttershy stared at it in wonder for a few agonising seconds. She often found it difficult to find her pulse, having such a little heart for a little pony. She finally turned to Discord, who was watching her every movement intently.

"Why am I in a hospital room?" She finally asked after a few seconds which felt like a millennium.

"Because you fainted."

"Why did I faint?"

"Because you realised what's going to happen to Twilight."

"What's going to happen to Twilight?"

This was the first question Discord refused to answer, which sent an uncomfortable wave, vibrate through Fluttershy's emotions. He then asked_ her_ questions, which ate away the awkwardness for Fluttershy.

"How are you feeling?"

"Good."

"How good on a scale of ten?"

"Seven."

Discord nodded. "Good."

A few more seconds passed. Fluttershy's memory returned, rapidly. Everything which had happened before she fainted.

The dark spirit came.

It locked her in a cage.

She contacted Celestia.

Celestia came.

The princess made a deal with the dark spirit.

The dark spirit set Fluttershy and her friends free.

The dark spirit was caught.

Twilight was going to die.

"Oh." Was all Fluttershy murmured. Discord's ears pricked.

"Do you now remember?" He asked. She looked up an stared into his mismatched red and yellow eyes.

"I do." She narrowed her teal eyes. They shone like crystals. They also went as transparent as a Quartz with betrayal. "How come you lied to me?"

Discord bit his lip. "Celestia ordered Luna and me, it had to be preserved as a secret, strictly. Trust me, I honestly disagreed with her idea. Being all new to this friendship thing, made me unsure, but I know that honesty is part of it... Oh, why does this have to be so _complicated? _Anyway, I planned on telling you, truthfully, but the Celestia started mentioning all the bad things which could happen to you if you knew of the plans, and then it got even more complicated... In the end, I finally decided not to tell you- only for your safety. Sorry."

Fluttershy nodded, understandingly. "I forgive you. You made the right decision," she paused "and thank you for catching me before I fainted."

"How could I not?"

"Why have none of my friends come here, to the hospital, anyway?" She mentioned, raising an eyebrow.

"They did come... But they left. I was the only one who wanted to stay. You're my best friend Fluttershy!"

Fluttershy let out a purr of amusement, "best friends don't have to wait in a hospital when the other gets injured for _this _long, Discord!"

He looked down, "but..." He was cut off, as Fluttershy leaned over from in the bed and hugged him lightly, but lovingly.

"But thank you for waiting. You're my best friend too... And maybe even a bit more."

~Twilight Sparkle~

_"Mother! Mother!" A little violet-purple unicorn filly ran excitedly up to a taller unicorn mare. She had albino fur, and a white and purple mane. She glanced down contentedly at the little filly canter up to her._

_"Twilight Sparkle! Slow down!" She scolded, but her eyes disagreed with what she said, because the way she looked down at the filly, was in a motherly-loving expression. The filly giggled, and jumped into her mother's hooves excitedly._

_"Mother! Look what me and Shining Armour can do!" Twilight Velvet peered over her daughter's shoulder to see an older unicorn colt. He had an amused expression on his face at the bliss of his younger sister. Shining Armour had a white pelt, like his mother, and he had a dark blue and light blue striped mane like his father._

_"Ok. Show me what you two can do," Twilight Velvet beamed._

_"Wait! I can I watch too?" There was the pattering sound of hooves, as a light pink alicorn galloped up. Her pink wings faded into a purple at the tips of the feathers, and a tiara perched between her horn and ears. Her curly mane was striped with purples, pinks and yellows, and had a blue crystal heart as her Cutie Mark. Her eyes were purple, and the older filly stood before them all with a bright smile on her face._

_"Hi Cadance," Shining Armour greeted, shuffling on his hooves shyly._

_"Shining Armour." Cadance dipped her head kindly, before turning to Twilight Sparkle, and sitting on her rump. Twilight Sparkle mirrored Cadance's movements as they both chanted, "Sunshine, sunshine! Ladybugs awake! Clap your hooves and do a little shake!" They ended the song by turning around and shaking their flanks. They both burst into giggles. Eventually, Cadance turned to Twilight Velvet._

_"Sorry Mrs Velvet for being late to foal sit!" Cadance looked up wearily, only for Twilight Velvet to be smiling._

_"Oh, Cadance. You're too kind. Of course I'll let this slide, I cannot thank you enough for looking after Twilight Sparkle in the first place- she really does love you. And please, just call me Twilight Velvet." Cadance nodded gratefully before standing besides Twilight Velvet as they watched Twilight Sparkle and Shining Armour perform their magic trick. Twilight Sparkle started by simply levitating a twig, before Shining Armour managed to levitate Twilight Sparkle into the sky._

_"Weee! I'm a Pegasi!" Twilight squealed, flailing her hooves around vigorously as if they were wings. Cadance and Twilight Velvet laughed at this._

_"Bravo!" Cadance cheered, clapping her hooves in glee, once they had finished the act._

_"You two are getting better and better at magic by each day! I couldn't be any prouder." Twilight Velvet nuzzled her two foals lovingly._

_..._

_Later that night, Twilight Sparkle had an upset tummy. She clutched it miserably, feeling the pain which she could not stop. "Mother..." She moaned. There was the sound of trotting hooves before Twilight Velvet entered her daughter's bedroom an glanced down worriedly._

_"What's the matter, darling?" Twilight Velvet cradled her daughter's little head worriedly._

_"I have an upset tummy," Twilight Sparkle whimpered._

_"Oh no..." Twilight Velvet stared down at her ill daughter, and she couldn't bare to see her like this._

_"What I am about to show you, you must never tell anyone else about it. Promise?" Twilight Velvet trusted Twilight Sparkle to keep her word._

_"I promise," Twilight replied, staring into her mother's eyes curiously._

_"There was a song that my mother taught me, and her mother taught her before that. This song goes through generations of family, and I trust you to keep it a secret... The only one you can tell is your daughter from the future, when you feel the time is right." Twilight Sparkle nodded obediently._

_"Now this song... It's more like a spell. You must sing it when you feel you have to, and as least times as possible. If you sing this song, it gives you what you need at the time. So- if I needed food, it would maybe give me bits to buy food. If you're sick, it might give you a cure, or it might just make you feel better. Here is how the song goes."_

_Twilight Velvet sung the song one time through, and the second time she sung it, Twilight Sparkle joined in._

_"Light changes darkness,_

_old changes new._

_Colour changes grey_

_and I love you_

_Have a heart as pure as gold,_

_Don't wish for what you see._

_Keep this secret for the best,_

_Pass it through the family."_

_A golden light came spurting out of their mouths, forming into the words, and spiralling around into a tiny whirlwind of golden light. It then showered over Twilight Sparkle, seeping into her heart. Twilight Sparkle watched in amazement, as every vein of hers sparked into a yellow, blinding light, which she could see, shining through her skin. Then it faded away. Twilight Sparkle looked surprised, and she sat as still as a rock._

_"Did it work?" Twilight Velvet asked cautiously._

_"Yes," Twilight Sparkle rasped. That one word was all she could muster. She could hardly breathe, she was so shocked._

~Dark Spirit~

_Now is time to die. Well... I guess that is better than being shoved right into a book on Dark Magic. It was so boring! _The dark spirit sat in the middle of a dim, grey room. Her legs were all chained up- actually, why was she just saying her legs? Every single part of her body was chained up. Her legs, her neck, her tail, her flank, her stomach, her head and so on. Her ear was really itchy right now, and how she longed to scratch it.

"Can you scratch my ear, it's really itchy?" She looked pleadingly up at a Royal Guard. He didn't even look at her, but he growled in a low voice, "maybe you should have thought about that before you took over Twilight Sparkle's body." The dark spirit just irritatedly stuck her tongue out at him. Rows and rows of ponies sat in the room. It was like a court room, but there was no lawyer to defend the dark spirit. _Isn't that just great._ They had really been cautious of the dark spirit. Every single precaution they had covered up. Alongside the chains, they had a magic proof field around the dark spirit. Every single pony who knew Twilight Sparkle was there, except Fluttershy, because she fainted. It was kind of funny actually. The dark spirit never knew that Twilight's friends loved her so much, that one of them would faint over her being murdered. Then again, that Pegasi _was_ scared of her own shadow. The dark spirit then started wondering how it was going to be killed.

"Will I be drowned, beheaded, poisoned, electrocuted, stabbed or killed by magic?" The dark spirit peered up at the royal guard.

"Stabbed." He replied gruffly.

"Oh! Fancy! I like your taste. What weapon will you use? Knives, swords, bow and arrows, axes-"

"Swords," he answered before the dark spirit could finish.

"Typical for Royal Guards," the dark spirit muttered.

Half an hour passed until finally, a pony went on a stage and started saying what the dark spirit had done, and why they were going to murder her.

At some point, it asked, "have you any words to defend yourself?"

"Nope," the dark spirit replied with a mischievous grin on her face. Lots of ponies were crying, tears gushing down their faces miserably. Twilight did have a lot of ponies who loved her. This was the last time any of them were ever going to see their beloved friend, and the dark spirit loved that. No more element of magic! No more fourth princess.

~Twilight Sparkle~

Her eyes shot open. That dream she had just had... _The dream was of my past! I remember it all now! _Twilight got up excitedly, and peered out of her eye. "No!" She cried as she realised her old dream she had where Luna had protected her was coming true- the dark grey court room! "I am going to die..." She shook her head, "not if I can help it!" She gulped and began singing the lullaby her mother had taught her when she was younger. Her voice was shaky, but it was all she could do. _I hope this works!_

_"Light changes darkness,_

_old changes new._

_Colour changes grey_

_and I love you_

_Have a heart as pure as gold,_

_Don't wish for what you see._

_Keep this secret for the best,_

_Pass it through the family."_

Nothing happened. "No! I cannot give up now!"

_"Light changes darkness,_

_old changes new._

_Colour changes grey_

_and I love you_

_Have a heart as pure as gold,_

_Don't wish for what you see._

_Keep this secret for the best,_

_Pass it through the family."_

A dim light began to envelope it's way out of her words. Gulping, she began to sing more louder and clearer.

_"Light changes darkness,_

_old changes new._

_Colour changes grey_

_and I love you_

_Have a heart as pure as gold,_

_Don't wish for what you see._

_Keep this secret for the best,_

_Pass it through the family."_

Suddenly a bright golden light shot up and blazed it's way down on Twilight Sparkle like a waterfall. She shivered as she felt a tickling sensation run down her spine, as the light erupted through her body. This was so much magic, she was unsure she could handle it, as the radiant waves worked their way through her veins. She could barely stand, and her legs shook under the immense pressure. Finally the light died down, and she froze. "Nothing happened?" It was barely audible as tears streamed out of her eyes. "I will never see my friends again." Giving up all hope, she collapsed to the ground. Sobbing, she rubbed her nose with a shaky hoof. Suddenly, her head was buzzing in an unusual rhythm. She opened her eyes. Maybe the buzzing was just the aftermath of singing a useless lullaby. But then the buzzing got louder, and louder. Soon it erupted into words, words she could understand. It was a conversation she had had with the mist ages ago. When she had first attempted to use her magic. He had said: "_Poor Twilight. I forgot to mention- Regular Magic doesn't work here." _The sentence played over and over in her head. "_Poor Twilight. I forgot to mention- Regular Magic doesn't work here." _Twilight gritted her teeth in horror. "Is this all I get? A stupid sentence that the malice haze said? Why?" She screamed, the tears already returning. Then she sighed. "There must be something important about this sentence if the lullaby gave this to me." She listened to it several times, isolating each word, and considering the meaning. "_Poor Twilight. I forgot to mention- Regular Magic doesn't work here." _Then it hit her. "Regular Magic doesn't work here... _Regular_ Magic doesn't work here!" She bounced up an down ecstatically. "Regular Magic doesn't work here! He said nothing about _Dark Magic! _Plus, I read lots of the spells from that _'The Alicorn's Book on the Proceeding Studies of Dark Magic'_ book!" Twilight gritted her teeth and thought of all the things she hated. Mainly the fog. To her triumph, her horn began to light up. A mysterious black, green and purple light worked it's way over her horn, and she shot the dark wave at the ground, making it begin to smoke. Twilight smirked. "Now I have a mist to kill."

~Pinkie Pie~

She stood on the stage sombrely. Everyone in the crowd stared at her, their heads down, praying.

"I will miss Twilight because she is my friend. When I first met her, she said her hellos to me, and all I did was gasp and run away. Hehe... I planned a party for her, and wow, she was surprised... And a bit angry. I will miss Twilight because whenever I am down, or don't know what to do, she'll always have faith in me. She respects my cheeriness, and she always laughs at my jokes. Thank you Twilight, for being such an amazing friend."

~Rarity~

"I will miss Twilight because she is my friend. When _I_ first met her... Oh, I cannot deny, she had the most _hideous _hair... But I fixed it... Then she ran away. I will miss Twilight, because whenever I stray towards the wrong direction, she'll always get me back on the right path and talk sense into me. That is a skill that few friends possess. She is always there to compliment my ideas, and she is always there if any of us squabble, to get us together again. Thank you Twilight, for being the most splendid friend."

~Applejack~

"I'al miss Twilight cause she's mah friend. When I first met her, I had mah whole famileh' with mah, preparing food. Oh, we had simpleh' every possible thing ya could make with apples, and we got her to eat nearleh' everything. Oh, trust meh, she looked like she was readeh' to run away at any second, or when we turned our backs. I will miss Twilight, cause she is always there to test and challenge mah pride. She always understands mah ideas, and helps me in the toughest of times. Thanks Twilight, for being the most greatest friend."

~Rainbow Dash~

"I will miss Twilight because she is my friend. When I first met her, she was standing in the way of my routine, and I went crashing into her, and sending her into a pit of mud. Then I washed her... Hehe... She looked ridiculous after that. I will miss Twilight because she taught me, that eggheads aren't bad... She taught me that just because I'm sporty, doesn't mean I'm not smart... She taught me to be prepared to test, she taught me that I actually _like_ reading, and she taught me new ways of friendship. Thanks Twilight, for being the most smart friend."


	8. The Murder

~Chapter 8~

~The Murder~

~Twilight Sparkle~

"Come out wherever you are hiding mist!" Twilight Sparkle's voice resonated across the room, ricocheting across all the walls and the dark chamber. Almost instantly, a form appeared out of the shadows, it was pale white and ghostly. Twilight narrowed her eyes, and got into an attacking stance.

"Twilight! Oh your paralysation had worn off. Now we can have fun!" The mist smirked.

"I want to fight again," Twilight declared, scraping her hoof aggressively on the ground. The mist didn't seem at all surprised.

"Didn't you learn anything about me your last pitiful attempt Twilight? I learnt about you. I learnt you are determined… I learnt you are strong, and no one should judge you…" He edged closer. Twilight wasn't sure what she felt right now… was it… hesitation?

"I learnt that you are smart… you won't give up at anything. I learnt you are unpredictable, and I have grown to admire you. Twilight… it doesn't have to be this way. We could be friends. We could be together…?" The haze brushed against her skin, sending a shiver run down her spine.

"So… what do you have to say?" The mist had obviously grown more confident, at the fact that Twilight hadn't flinched away yet.

She peered at the ground, and peeled out of the defence stance. The haze was getting more excited by each second.

Twilight gulped, before she spoke. "You're right." Her one response, hung in the air much longer than the other words did. It resonated all the way through, and there was no hesitation.

A grin worked its way on the haze's transparent face. She looked up, a sign of defeat, before she smirked and determination filled her eyes.

"You're right. I _am_ headstrong. I _am_ determined. I _am_ unpredictable. That is why I am about to kill you!" She lashed forward, her horn powering up and blasting straight at the mist. He was shocked, as he went plummeting across the room.

"So you learnt the dark magic secret, hey," he got up, brushing some dust off his vapouring form. "Then now let's have a _real_ fight!" His horn powered up fully, and a shot of dark magic singed Twilight's hooves. _Shoot. I forgot that he would be much more experienced at dark magic than me._ She swiftly blew the smoke coming off her hooves, and used her dark magic to lash out a dark blow at the fog. It caught him, but barely, and he was slammed against the wall. She blasted him again, and again, unaware of his powering up horn. She was too late as she realized however, as a massive wave sprouted out and whipped across her face. She was blown across the other side of the room, making an 'oof' sound as she slammed against the earth. The dark spirit gave a grunt of satisfaction and fired at her again. She built up a shield around her, blocking off most of the blows, and jumping out of the way as a few more were fired. She then levitated the haze into the air, making the fires go askew, and shook it up and down before dropping him hard against the earth. The dark spirit was prepared however and shot a powerful blast at Twilight Sparkle. She tried to jump out the way, but it hit her side, singeing some of her fur. She hissed in agony, and lunged forward, bowling the mist over, and shooting waves and waves at it. It tried to defend itself, but she was fighting dirty, aiming for its eyes, and anything that looked vulnerable. The dark spirit tried to fend off the blows but was too late. She finally butted her head into his 'heart' her horn digging into the misty form. She powered up her horn, using the darkest spell she knew. She felt the darkness run through her veins, and her horn sliced through the heart, giving a small explosion inside. The creature let out one, last agonising shriek before it shrivelled down and the paleness faded away slowly but surely. It eventually blew away, no more than debris much to her satisfaction.

"Yes! I killed it!" she squealed, bouncing up and down, until she realized nothing was happening.

"Nothing is happening… nothing is happening…?" She gulped. She had learnt not to doubt things just because they were arriving a bit late- for example the lullaby. She waited a few moments, and she was correct, as suddenly a screaming pain ripped its way into her heart. She winced in agony as it shredded further into her skin, until finally she felt herself expanding and expanding and expanding. Her vision got brighter as is began to let light in from a grey court room. The pain finally died down.

"Wait! Don't kill me!" she screamed. She turned to all the ponies in the crowds, but their heads were down. Her nightmare was coming true. The royal guards stood before her, and their teeth were clenched around swords. Their heads shot down.

~Discord~

Fluttershy had stayed close to him. She had kept her arms wrapped around him the whole time. How he had been waiting for her. He had been waiting for her for so long, and she had finally, finally said her feelings. Discord had never been any happier in his life, holding the little yellow creature… he wasn't sure whether it was a dream or not. If it was, he never wanted to wake up. Suddenly, he felt a beeping deep in his heart. It was a warning- like a yellow light in traffic.

"Fluttershy…?" He began.

"Mmm?" She asked lazily.

"I'd recommend you get off me right now…" he began. She curiously unwrapped her hooves around him and edged back.

As if on cue, Discord suddenly vibrated, and a wriggling sensation zipped through his body. It felt like something was tickling him furiously. Fluttershy's eyes widened when it died down.

"What was that?" she questioned.

"A magic unbalance. The last one I got was when all the magic Tirek stole was returned to the ponies," he replied.

"Where is it coming from?" Fluttershy asked.

"A court room… but that doesn't make any sense… that's the place where Twilight is getting murdered… and they made a magic proof shield around the room?" Discord gave Fluttershy a confused look, as her teal eyes widened even further.

"Or maybe it does… What if the real Twilight is back? What if the magic unbalance is the monster being killed?" Fluttershy cried.

_Celestia, she's smart…_ "That's right… Oh no… it can only mean that the Twilight they are about to kill…"

"Might be the real Twilight," Fluttershy finished. They stared at each other painfully for a few seconds.

"Yes, Twilight might be annoying _sometimes_… but she is still my friend, we need to get there… _now_! Hold on." He didn't even give her a change to grasp onto him, for he picked her up instead and he attempted to teleported his way to the court room, but he only buzzed slightly. He didn't teleport at all. Fluttershy felt him vibrate, and she glanced up with her teal eyes, glowing with confusion.

"What's going on?" she asked, growing more worried by the second.

"_Shoot!_ I forgot they put a magic field around the court room so the dark spirit wouldn't cause any problems," Discord cried.

"It's strong enough to hold off even _your_ chaos?" Fluttershy was shivering in horror now.

"No… but a spell to break through takes a lot of time to do," Discord replied. "I'll teleport as close to the room as I can. Then we'll have to hurry!" He held onto her tightly again, and teleported the two as close to the court room as possible, which was a town ahead. Fluttershy gave a small shriek and began flying as fast as she could. In the face of danger, she could fly fast. He knew, because when he had first met the ponies, and he had changed all of them into the opposites of themselves, Fluttershy had managed to fly fast enough to roughly catch up to a very disloyal Rainbow Dash. He quickly got down on his forelegs and chased after her, barely flanking the little Pegasi as she whooshed ahead. They were reaching the court room, and Discord could make out the words of Twilight screaming, "Wait, don't kill me!" Fluttershy squealed slightly and flew harder than ever. Discord really had to run to catch up. The two of them simultaneously banged through the doors.

"Wait! That is the real Twilight!" both Discord and Fluttershy screamed. Lots of the ponies turned to the draconequus and Pegasi in horror.

"_Stop!_ Now!" screamed Celestia, but it was too late, as swords went hammering into Twilight.

"No!" screamed the sound of many voices. Fluttershy was down by Twilight's side faster than any teleportation spell, and she was screaming at Twilight.

"_No!_ Don't die! Stay with us! You're my best friend!" Tears were falling desperately down Fluttershy's eyes. Twilight shakily looked up, draining lots of energy, and spoke weakly.

"_You're my best friend too. I wish the best to all of you five…_"

"No! Don't give up yet!" Fluttershy screamed and screamed, but Twilight only gave a weak smile. Discord nervously trotted up behind them, but stood back, knowing that he should stay out of their way.

Twilight's heart beat slowed, as tears and tears ran down Fluttershy's eyes. Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Rarity and Applejack gathered around the two, and Twilight stared at each of them in turn.

"_Thank you…"_ Were the last words she gushed out, as her heart stopped, and everyone in the audience crowded around the dead Alicorn. Discord could even feel tears begin to form. Twilight had been annoying, at times, and she was fun to play tricks on, but she was still his second favourite out of the main six after Fluttershy.

Celestia approached Discord. The princess looked just as upset as the rest of the ponies, but she nudged Discord towards the mass of crying bodies.

"You were Twilight's friend too, you know. You have _every_ right to be among them," Celestia choked.

Discord turned to the princess, and nodded, before cautiously approaching the mass of bodies. He hung back at the end, but he still had time to glimpse at the dead body. _Farewell Twilight._

"I know for one _I_ will miss Twilight. She may be annoying at times but she was _still_ my friend. She was good at playing tricks on… she was very gullible, but she was still determined and she proved her friendship to me in _every_ way possible," Discord murmured. He didn't notice he had said it out loud, until he glanced at the ground when he realized he was receiving glances at the other ponies. At first he thought they were going to start yelling at him, but instead they nodded gratefully, and in turn, each of them gave a word of goodbye to Twilight.

~Fluttershy~

"Sunshine, sunshine, ladybugs awake… clap your hooves and do a little shake," Cadance choked out. "Twilight was my sister-in-law as well as my friend. I have known her since she was a foal, and since the very first day I foal-sat her, I saw a determined little foal, who held _great_ potential deep inside. She would have made an _incredible _ruler for many years and years to come. If only we had have known it was really her, before it was too late." Cadance finished, and gulped peering down at the ground.

"Twilight was the _only_ one who truly accepted me when I first made an appearance in Ponyville," Luna began. "She was the only one who saw _passed_ my history, and she knew me as Luna, instead of Nightmare Moon. She has taught me so many things to fit in, and she has been such a great fellow princess. I cannot thank you _enough_ Twilight."

Celestia was next, "I have never doubted sending her to Ponyville. Her potential shone brighter than the stars. I saw it in her, on her very first audition day to get into my school. I still see it now. She was brave, fearless; she always seemed to know what to do in the toughest of situations. A student like her comes every blue moon, and I will never forget my most faithful student- Twilight Sparkle."

Fluttershy finally stepped forward, and peaked over Twilight's limp body. All the pony's eyes were glued to the little Pegasi, waiting for her to speak. Fluttershy gulped, before beginning to talk.

"Twilight Sparkle has been the greatest of friends since the very first day we met. I was too shy to even say my name on that very first day. She's taught me more about friendship than I could ever imagine. I never knew that having pony friends could possibly be any better than having animal friends, but how wrong I was. There's more to life than hiding from your shadow. There is more to life than just living a solitary life with your adopted woodland friends to keep you company. I never would have seen that if it hadn't been for Twilight. Without Twilight, none of us… none of us, not me, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Applejack or Rarity… none of us would be the friends we are today. The elements of Loyalty, Laughter, Honesty, Generosity and Kindness cannot be activated without Magic after all." Fluttershy stopped and stared at her element around her neck. She had not taken it off yet. None of them had. "They cannot be together without magic…" she hesitated again, before picking up a tiara which was left on the stand in the court room. "They cannot be together without magic," she put it delicately on Twilight's head. "She has taught all of us new things about friendship. Few ponies can do that. Few ponies can keep a whole group together." The other four looked at the other and slowly they began singing together, standing over Twilight Sparkle. "She used to wonder what friendship could be… Until we all shared its magic with her…" Rainbow Dash spoke on her own, "big adventures," Pinkie Pie went next, "tons of fun…" Rarity stepped forward, "a beautiful heart," Applejack butted forward, "faithful and strong." Fluttershy smiled, "sharing kindness," they sung together again "it's an easy feat, and magic makes it all complete…" They were silent for a moment, barely noticing the elements slowly gathering together, and connecting with Twilight's tiara.

"Do you know you are my very best friends?" whispered a voice. They all stared down in amazement. A lavender Alicorn mare stood up on shaky legs. She had a dark blue mane with purple and pink highlights, she had sparkling purple eyes and her horn was glowing, engulfed with magic. Everypony was in shock and bowed down to the princess.

"Twilight…" gaped Fluttershy, her words barely audible. "Twilight!" All five of them ran up and hugged her in sheer pleasure, delight and shock. Fluttershy could barely believe it… the elements of harmony had resurrected Twilight.

"But... How does this work? Your heart literally... Stopped!" Rarity was first to question.

Twilight hesitated, "a heart it what gives you the feelings of friendship. You need a heart to make friends. Our friendship was just forgotten for a bit. But when you sung that song... It was enough to start my heart up again, because of the Elements of Harmony."

"Wait... So you heard us singing that song... When you were dead?" Rainbow Dash asked in horror.

"What was it like being dead? Was it fun?" Pinkie Pie hopped forward ecstatically.

"Well... As soon as I closed my eyes, I found myself in this very room. I tried to touch you guys, but I only went through you. Then I saw my dead body. I realised I was lifeless. I watched as every pony said their speeches about me. It was very flattering really," she ducked her head and giggled a bit, before looking up again, "then I watched Fluttershy's... she grabbed my Element of Harmony and put the tiara on my head... _How_ did you know to do that?" Twilight suddenly asked, turning to the little pegasi.

"I don't know... Something in my told me to do it, I honestly don't know," the little yellow pegasi replied.

"Well anyway... At first when you put the tiara on me, nothing happened... But then when you started singing that song, I noticed that some magic was whirling from your Elements. It then whooshed around me as a ghost, and it pulled me back towards my dead body. As soon as I entered it, it could feel my heart slowly start up again, and then I was able to open my eyes, and that's basically it," Twilight finished.

"The Elements of Harmoneh are even able to bring those back from the dead? I knew they were powerful, but that's just crazeh," Applejack murmured.

"I don't care how it works... I am just so thrilled to have you back!" Fluttershy cried loudly. That was probably the loudest she had ever spoken. She squeezed Twilight slightly. All the five friends backed off from the Alicorn after that.

"You know what this calls for?" Pinkie Pie shrilled.

Everypony smiled and turned to her, "a party!"

~Twilight Sparkle~

The party was held in Canterlot, but it was nothing like a Canterlot party. There was lots of cake and party foods and there were tons of party games, much to Twilight's delight. Everypony who had been at the courtroom were at this party, and it was a party Twilight was never going to forget.

"Go!" Pinkie Pie squealed, and Twilight lashed the stick she had around in her hooves, trying to pinpoint a piñata. She eventually hit the box in the sky and sweets went crashing down from it. Twilight swiftly took her blindfold off and tried to grab as many lollies as possible, but she was too late.

"Hey! Who took them all?" Twilight stared around.

"Not me!" Pinkie Pie squawked through a mouthful of sweets. Twilight only let out a smile of amusement. She trotted up to a table, and grabbed a chip from a bowl. She looked over and saw her mum.

"Twilight Velvet!" She ran up to the white unicorn with the purple and white mane, "mum!" The pony turned around and smiled when she saw her daughter approaching her.

"Wow Twilight! You seem full of bubbles, and you haven't even _had_ much sugary sweets yet!" Twilight Velvet gave her daughter a soft hug.

"Do you want to know how I managed to get free from the dark spirit," Twilight Sparkle looked up at her mum seriously.

Twilight Velvet, titled her head, "sure?"

"Your lullaby mum! It was _your_ lullaby which set me free! Without it I would have been obviously dead right now," Twilight whispered, hoping no one else heard.

Twilight Velvet's eyes widened. "I can't believe you remembered it after all this time!"

"Neither can I," replied Twilight. She hugged her mum again before trotting away.

"Hey Twilight! The other princesses have arrived now!" Rainbow Dash flew down from the sky.

"Rainbow Dash! I didn't know you were here! Aren't you meant to be at the Wonderbolts?" Twilight Sparkle tilted her head to the cyan mare.

Rainbow Dash shrugged. "I have my ways." Twilight gave her a confused glance, before trotted up to the three princesses.

"Celestia! Luna! Cadance!"

"Twilight!" Cadance was first to speak. Twilight sat down on her rump and chanted with Cadance, "sunshine, sunshine! Ladybugs awake! Clap your hooves and do a little shake!" The two of them laughed for a bit, before Cadance trotted over to the party food to get a drink.

Twilight gave a dip of the head to Luna, and the night princess modestly gave one back. "I don't usually attend ceremonies during the day, but I'll give this an exception. Now I can have some... 'Fun.' Yes... 'Fun!'" Luna trotted up to a Twister game and began asking Pinkie Pie how to play. Twilight rolled her eyes. Luna may be a princess, but she still needed to learn a lot. Twilight finally turned to Celestia.

"I am so proud of you," Celestia smiled, giving her student a nuzzle. Although Celestia and Twilight weren't related, Celestia was still like a second mother to Twilight.

"It wasn't me though... It was my friends who were the ones who got me here... Especially Fluttershy." Twilight turned around, trying to spot the yellow pegasi.

"There," Celestia nudged Twilight and pointed her hoof towards the yellow pegasi on the other side of the room. She was staying very close to Discord (who didn't have to where a disguise at this party) for some reason. Twilight didn't question it though. She only smiled. She could only think of what the future held for those two 'friends.'

"I need to talk to you... Privately," Celestia insisted, and Twilight gave an obedient nod, following the princess of the sun outside the room where the party was being held. When Celestia was certain she nopony was eavesdropping, she questioned.

"Was there a... mist... with you inside your self-conscience?" Celestia questioned.

"Yes," Twilight replied, tilting her head.

Celestia only gritted her teeth. "Don't tell any pony… but that has happened to me before... When I was no more than a filly, I read that book and great harms came to Equestria."

Twilight Sparkle's eyes widened. "What? How did you get free? Did you kill the mist? What happened?"

"I never did kill the dark spirit. It was something I should have done years ago. Not killing that mist was the worst mistake I ever made. Instead, we found..." Celestia stared at the ground, and began to shiver, _"love."_

Twilight's eyes widened. "But... that doesn't make any _sense!_ The monster was trying to win _my _heart too!"

"Let me finish," Celestia stared at Twilight with serious eyes, "the monster said that if I set it free from the book and let it live back to Equestria as an actual living soul, it would set me free. I kept my word, and after it let me go, I instantly used my magic to take it out of the book and set it free. Horror came to the land. The dark spirit had access to any pony. No pony even had to read the book, it just corrupted their souls. I had to choose between the haze and my subjects. Everypony told me I had to kill it… I never had the heart to though and I just sent it back into its book of dark magic. Over years and years I have regretted my decisions, and over all these years my love has faded into hatred. Twilight… how did you kill that mist?" Celestia glanced down at Twilight.

Twilight gulped, peering at the ground. "I just used dark magic to kill it."

"You used _dark_ magic to kill it? Twilight… you can't that's illegal!" Celestia's eyes clouded.

"But how _else_ was I supposed to escape?" Twilight's eyes were welling with tears.

"Do you know what could happen if you use it incorrectly?" Celestia was scuffing on her hooves nervously.

"Do you know what would happen if I didn't?" Twilight shot back. "I know it was wrong, but it was the only choice I had. Maybe I have a dark side to me now, but as long as I have my friends to guide me on, I will remain on the good side. Celestia… you have to trust me. I can learn to control my powers… I have used dark magic before… just not this… powerful," Twilight grimaced peering at the ground. "I know my friends can help me."

Celestia stared at Twilight for a few minutes, before finally giving a huff, and turned away. "I don't trust dark magic… but I trust you and I know you will choose the correct path in your life."

Twilight Sparkle nodded, and trotted back to the party to enjoy it. She knew that whenever she was feeling angered, she would remember all the ponies she loved in her life, and it would help her deal with her situations. She felt a whoosh of darkness flow through her veins, and she quickly shook it away. She didn't care how hard it was, she would have to keep this dark side of her secret for as long as possible.

"Hey Twilight! You're missing out on the fun! Play some Twister with me and Luna! I bet you can't beat us!" chirped Pinkie Pie across the room.

Twilight smiled, and trotted up to the pink mare, followed by Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Rarity and Fluttershy.

Friendship_ is_ magic.


End file.
